Meat product

ABSTRACT

A novel meat product is provided. The meat product contains a blend of at least one meat and an unrefined plant protein material. In one embodiment, the unrefined plant protein material of the meat product has a nitrogen solubility index of from about 30% to about 80% and at least one of the following properties: a salt tolerance index of from about 30% to about 80%; a water hydration capacity of at least 3.75 times the weight of the unrefined plant protein material; or a viscosity of at least 500 centipoise at a temperature of 15° C. to 25° C. In another embodiment, the unrefined plant protein material of the meat product has at least one of the following properties: a gel weight of at least 30 grams at a temperature of from about 15° C. to about 25° C. in a 5 fluid ounce mixture containing 5 parts water per 1 part of unrefined plant protein material, by weight; or a refrigerated gel strength of at least 50 grams when combined with 5 parts of water per part of soy material, by weight. In a particularly preferred embodiment the unrefined plant protein material is an unrefined soy protein material, most preferably soy flour, soy grits, soy meal, or soy flakes.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a novel meat product containing atleast one meat and a functional unrefined plant protein material.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Plant protein materials are used as functional food ingredients, andhave numerous applications in enhancing desirable characteristics infood products. Soy protein materials, in particular, have seen extensiveuse as functional food ingredients. Soy protein materials are used as anemulsifier in meats—including frankfurters, sausages, bologna, groundand minced meats and meat patties—to bind the meat and give the meat agood texture and a firm bite. Another common application for soy proteinmaterials as functional food ingredients is in creamed soups, gravies,and yogurts where the soy protein material acts as a thickening agentand provides a creamy viscosity to the food product. Soy proteinmaterials are also used as functional food ingredients in numerous otherfood products such as dips, dairy products, tuna, breads, cakes,macaroni, confections, whipped toppings, baked goods and many otherapplications.

Plant protein concentrates and plant protein isolates are plant proteinmaterials that are most commonly used as functional food ingredients dueto: 1) their high protein content; and 2) their lowoligosaccharide/carbohydrate content. Soy protein concentrates and soyprotein isolates are the most highly refined commercially available soyprotein containing products. Both soy protein concentrates and soyprotein isolates are processed to increase soy protein content and todecrease oligosacharride content relative to whole soybeans andrelatively unprocessed soy protein materials such as soy flakes, soygrits, soy meal and soy flour. Soy protein concentrates are processed tocontain from 65% to about 80% soy protein and little or no water solubleoligosaccharides/carbohydrates, where the major non-protein component ofa soy protein concentrate is fiber. Soy protein isolates, the mosthighly refined soy protein product, are processed to contain at least90% soy protein and little or no water solubleoligosaccharides/carbohydrates or fiber.

Soy protein concentrates and soy protein isolates are particularlyeffective functional food ingredients due to the versatility of soyprotein (and the relatively high content thereof in soy proteinconcentrates and isolates), and to the lack of raffinose and stachyoseoligosaccharides which naturally occur in soybeans. Soy protein providesgelling properties which contribute to the texture in ground andemulsified meat products. The gel structure provides dimensionalstability to a cooked meat emulsion which gives the cooked meat emulsiona firm texture and gives chewiness to the cooked meat emulsion, as wellas provides a matrix for retaining moisture and fats. Soy protein alsoacts as an emulsifier in various food applications since soy proteinsare surface active and collect at oil-water interfaces, inhibiting thecoalescence of fat and oil droplets. The emulsification properties ofsoy protein allows soy protein containing materials to be used tothicken food products such as soups and gravies. Soy protein furtherabsorbs fat, likely as a function of its emulsification properties, andpromotes fat binding in cooked foods, thereby decreasing “fatting out”of the fat in the process of cooking. Soy proteins also function toabsorb water and retain it in finished food products due to thehydrophilic nature of the numerous polar side chains along the peptidebackbone of soy protein. The moisture retention of a soy proteinmaterial may be utilized to decrease cooking loss of moisture in a meatproduct, providing a yield gain in the cooked weight of the meat. Theretained water in the finished food products is also useful forproviding a more tender mouthfeel to the product.

Raffinose and stachyose oligosaccharides induce intestinal gas andflatulence in humans, therefore soy protein concentrates and soy proteinisolates are processed to remove these compounds. Inexpensive butrelatively unprocessed comminuted whole soybeans and soy flours, meals,grits, and flakes contain high levels of carbohydrates, especiallyraffinose and stachyose. Humans lack the α-galactosidase enzyme neededto break down and digest complex oligosaccharides such as raffinose andstachyose into simple carbohydrates such as glucose, fructose, andsucrose which can be easily absorbed by the gut. Instead of beingabsorbed by the gut, soy raffinose and stachyose enter the lowerintestine where they are fermented by bacteria to cause intestinal gasand flatus. Therefore, soy protein concentrates and soy protein isolatesare often preferred as food ingredients over less highly processed soyprotein containing materials such as comminuted whole soybeans, soyflours, soy grits, soy meal, and soy flakes.

The most significant drawback to use of soy protein concentrates andisolates as functional food ingredients is their cost, which is directlyrelated to the degree of processing required to provide the high levelsof protein and low levels of oligosaccharides desirable in a soy proteinmaterial food ingredient. Soy protein concentrates are formed from soyflakes by washing the flakes with either an aqueous alcohol solution oran acidic aqueous solution to remove the water soluble carbohydratesfrom the protein and fiber. On a commercial scale, the costs associatedwith handling and disposing the waste stream consisting of the washcontaining the soluble carbohydrates are considerable.

Soy protein isolates are even more highly processed, and entail furtherexpense, particularly on a commercial scale. Soy protein isolates areformed by extracting soy protein and water soluble carbohydrates fromsoy flakes or soy flour with an alkaline aqueous extractant. The aqueousextract, along with the soluble protein and soluble carbohydrates, isseparated from materials that are insoluble in the extract, mainlyfiber. The extract is then treated with an acid to adjust the pH of theextract to the isoelectric point of the protein to precipitate theprotein from the extract. The precipitated protein is separated from theextract, which retains the soluble carbohydrates, and is dried afterbeing adjusted to a neutral pH or is dried without any pH adjustment. Ona commercial scale, these steps result in significant costs.

Therefore, in some food ingredient applications relatively unprocessedplant protein materials such as plant flours, plant grits, plant flakes,and plant meal are utilized when possible to reduce costs. Soy flours,soy grits and soy meals are produced from soy flakes by comminuting theflakes to a desired particle size, and heat treating the comminutedmaterials to inactivate anti-nutritional elements present in soy such aBowman-Birk and Kunitz trypsin inhibitors. The flakes are typicallycomminuted by grinding the flakes in grinding and milling equipment suchas a hammer mill or an air jet mill. The ground flakes are heat treatedwith dry heat or steamed with moist heat to “toast” the ground flakes.Heat treating the ground flakes in the presence of significant amountsof water is avoided to prevent denaturation of the soy protein in thematerial and to avoid costs involved in the addition and removal ofwater from the soy material.

The resulting ground, heat treated material is a soy flour, soy grit, ora soy meal, depending on the average particle size of the material. Thesoy flour, grit, or meal typically contains from about 45% to about 55%soy protein, by weight, and also contains substantial amounts of fiber.Conventional soy flours, grits, and meals also contain substantialamounts of oligosaccharides, including raffinose and stachyose, since nosteps are taken to remove them.

Conventional soy flours, grits, and meals are used as functional foodingredients to increase viscosity, for fat absorption, for waterabsorption, and for their emulsification properties, in much the sameapplications as soy protein concentrates and soy protein isolates.Conventional soy flours, grits, or meals may be further processed forapplication as meat-like fibers by extruding them with water through acooker extruder, a process which cooks the soy flour, grit, or mealunder pressure in the presence of shear, resulting in substantialdenaturation of the soy protein in the material. The substantiallydenatured soy protein is insoluble in water, and provides the cooked soyflour, grit, or meal with a chewy texture.

Conventional plant flours, grits, and meals, however, are frequently notas effective in food ingredient applications as plant proteinconcentrates and plant protein isolates due to the reduced content ofplant protein in the flours, grits, and meals relative to theconcentrates and isolates, and due to the relative lack of functionalityof the plant flours, grits, and meals. In certain food ingredientapplications, particularly gelling and whipping applications, therelative lack of soy protein content in soy flours, grits, and mealsrenders them functionally ineffective in the applications, whereas soyprotein concentrates and isolates have sufficient soy protein content tobe functionally effective.

Conventional soy flours, grits, and meals also have a strong beany,bitter flavor due to volatile compounds in the soy materials such ashexanal, diacetyl, pentanal, n-pentane, and octanal. These flavor notesmake soy flours, grits, meal, flakes, and comminuted whole soybeans lessattractive as functional food ingredients.

Conventional soy flours, grits, and meals may also be undesirable asfunctional food ingredients due to their relatively high raffinose andstachyose content. This is particularly true when substantial amounts ofthe soy flour, grit, or meal are to be utilized in a food application,where the use of the soy flour, grit, or meal could induce intestinalgas, discomfort, and flatus as a result of the raffinose and stachyoseoligosachharides present in the materials.

It is desirable, therefore, to obtain an unrefined plant proteinmaterial having a protein, fiber, and carbohydrate composition similarto that of a plant flour, plant grit, plant flake, or plant meal whichhas functionality as a food ingredient similar to a plant proteinconcentrate or a plant protein isolate, without the attendant expense ofprocessing incurred in producing a plant protein concentrate or isolate.It is particularly desirable to obtain such an unrefined plant proteinmaterial from soy, where the unrefined soy protein material has acomposition similar to that of a soy flour, soy grit, soy flake, or asoy meal and a functionality similar to soy protein isolate and soyprotein concentrate, particularly in emulsified meat and creamed soupapplications. It is further desirable to obtain such an unrefined soyprotein material which has a low raffinose and stachyose oligosaccharidecontent, without the attendant expense of processing incurred inproducing a soy protein concentrate or a soy protein isolate.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect, the present invention is a meat product comprising ablend of at least one meat and an unrefined plant protein material. Theunrefined plant protein material forms a gel having a gel weight of atleast 30 grams at a temperature of from about 15° C. to about 25° C.when mixed with 5 parts of water per part of unrefined plant proteinmaterial, by weight, in an unrefined plant protein material/watermixture of 5 fluid ounces. Preferably the unrefined plant proteinmaterial is an unrefined soy protein material.

In another aspect, the present invention is a meat product comprising ablend of at least one meat and an unrefined plant protein materialwhich, when mixed with 5 parts of water per part of unrefined plantprotein material, by weight, forms an unrefined plant proteinmaterial/water mixture having a refrigerated gel strength of at least 50grams. Preferably the unrefined plant protein material is an unrefinedsoy protein material.

In a further aspect, the present invention is a meat product comprisinga blend of at least one meat and an unrefined plant protein material inwhich the unrefined plant protein material has a nitrogen solubilityindex of from 30% to 80%. The unrefined plant protein material forms anaqueous slurry having a viscosity of at least 500 centipoise at atemperature of from 15° C. to 25° C. when mixed with 7 parts of waterper part of unrefined plant protein material, by weight. Preferably theunrefined plant protein material is an unrefined soy protein material.

In yet another aspect, the present invention is a meat productcomprising a blend of at least one meat and an unrefined plant proteinmaterial having a nitrogen solubility index of from 30% to 80% and awater hydration capacity of at least 3.75 times the weight of theunrefined plant protein material. Preferably the unrefined plant proteinmaterial is an unrefined soy protein material.

In still another aspect, the present invention is a meat productcomprising a blend of at least one meat and an unrefined plant proteinmaterial having a nitrogen solubility index of from 30% to 80% and asalt tolerance index of from 30% to 80%. Preferably the unrefined plantprotein material is an unrefined soy protein material.

In a preferred embodiment of each of the above aspects of the presentinvention, the unrefined soy protein material contains at most 20 μmolof raffinose and 35 μmol of stachyose per gram of the soy material, andthe unrefined soy protein material is derived from soybeans from asoybean line having a heritable phenotype of low stachyose content. Morepreferably, the unrefined soy protein material contains at most 10 μmolraffinose and 10 μmol stachyose per gram of the soy material, and mostpreferably contains at least 200 μmol of sucrose per gram of the soymaterial.

In a further preferred embodiment of each of the above aspects of thepresent invention, the functional food ingredient further comprisessodium tripolyphosphate, sodium acid pyrophosphate, a gum, includingguar gum, or a mixture thereof

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The composition of the present invention is a functional food ingredientthat is an unrefined plant protein material which has physicalcharacteristics that provide the plant protein material with highlyeffective functionality as a food ingredient. These physicalcharacteristics include: a high gel weight, high gel strength, highviscosity, a nitrogen solubility index of from about 30% to about 80%, awater hydration capacity of at least 3.75 times the weight of thematerial, a water activity of 0.3 or less, a moisture content of 6% orless, low trypsin inhibitor and lipoxygenase activity, and preferablylow raffinose and low stachyose content. The unrefined plant proteinmaterial also contains fiber and carbohydrates, including both watersoluble and insoluble carbohydrates.

Definitions

The present invention applies to a plant protein material, specificallyto an unrefined plant protein material useful as a functional foodingredient. As used herein the term “unrefined plant protein material”is defined as a material derived from a plant which contains protein andcarbohydrates—both water soluble and water insoluble carbohydrates—whereat least 5% of the weight of the material, on a dry basis, is comprisedof water soluble carbohydrates. The water soluble carbohydrates whichmay be present in the unrefined plant protein material include, but arenot limited to, fructose, glucose, sucrose, maltose, lactose, stachyose,and raffinose. The water insoluble carbohydrates present in theunrefined plant protein material typically comprise plant fiber, and mayinclude, but are not limited to, polysaccharides, cellulose,hemicelluloses, and pectin.

The “unrefined plant protein material” of the present invention isdistinguished from “refined plant protein materials” such as plantprotein concentrates and plant protein isolates, at the very least, bythe relatively high levels of water soluble carbohydrates present in theunrefined plant protein materials, since refined plant protein materialscontain little or no water soluble carbohydrates. The unrefined plantprotein material of the present invention may also be distinguished frommore refined plant protein materials by its protein content, which istypically less than 65% protein on a dry weight basis, and is usuallylower than the relative protein content in a refined plant proteinmaterial such as a plant protein isolate or a plant protein concentrate.The unrefined plant protein material of the present invention may alsobe distinguished from some of the more refined plant protein materialsby its fiber content, as some refined plant protein materials areprocessed to contain no water insoluble fiber.

The unrefined plant protein material is preferably an unrefined soyprotein material having physical characteristics that make the unrefinedsoy protein material useful as a functional food ingredient. The term“unrefined soy protein material” is defined as a soy material whichcontains protein and carbohydrates, where the soy material contains atleast 5% water soluble carbohydrates by weight on a moisture-free basis.The unrefined soy protein material may also contain less than 65% soyprotein by weight on a moisture-free basis.

As the present invention is directed primarily toward unrefined soyprotein material functional food ingredients, the present invention isdescribed herein with regard to unrefined soy protein materials. Otherunrefined plant protein materials, however, can be employed in thepresent invention in place of unrefined soy protein materials, and thescope of the invention includes plant protein materials other than soy.The plant protein materials may be any unrefined protein materialderived from a plant, so long as the unrefined plant protein materialhas the requisite functionality as specified herein. Representative, butnot exclusive, examples of such plant protein materials include peaprotein containing materials, lupin containing materials, rapeseedprotein containing materials, various legume protein containingmaterials, and wheat gluten containing materials.

As used herein, the term “soy material” is defined as a material derivedfrom whole soybeans which contains no non-soy derived additives. Suchadditives may, of course, be added to a soy material to provide furtherfunctionality either to the soy material or to a food in which the soymaterial is utilized as a food ingredient. The term “soybean” refers tothe species Glycine max, Glycine soja, or any species that is sexuallycross compatible with Glycine max. The term “protein content” as usedherein, refers to the relative protein content of a soy material asascertained by A.O.C.S. (American Oil Chemists Society) Official MethodsBc 4-91(1997), Aa 5-91(1997), or Ba 4d-90(1997), each incorporatedherein in its entirety by reference, which determine the total nitrogencontent of a soy material sample as ammonia, and the protein content as6.25 times the total nitrogen content of the sample.

The Nitrogen-Ammonia-Protein Modified Kjeldahl Method of A.O.C.S.Methods Bc4-91 (1997), Aa 5-91 (1997), and Ba 4d-90(1997) used in thedetermination of the protein content may be performed as follows with asoy material sample. 0.0250-1.750 grams of the soy material are weighedinto a standard Kjeldahl flask. A commercially available catalystmixture of 16.7 grams potassium sulfate, 0.6 grams titanium dioxide,0.01 grams of copper sulfate, and 0.3 grams of pumice is added to theflask, then 30 milliliters of concentrated sulfuric acid is added to theflask. Boiling stones are added to the mixture, and the sample isdigested by heating the sample in a boiling water bath for approximately45 minutes. The flask should be rotated at least 3 times during thedigestion. 300 milliliters of water is added to the sample, and thesample is cooled to room temperature. Standardized 0.5N hydrochloricacid and distilled water are added to a distillate receiving flasksufficient to cover the end of a distillation outlet tube at the bottomof the receiving flask. Sodium hydroxide solution is added to thedigestion flask in an amount sufficient to make the digestion solutionstrongly alkaline. The digestion flask is then immediately connected tothe distillation outlet tube, the contents of the digestion flask arethoroughly mixed by shaking, and heat is applied to the digestion flaskat about a 7.5-min boil rate until at least 150 milliliters ofdistillate is collected. The contents of the receiving flask are thentitrated with 0.25N sodium hydroxide solution using 3 or 4 drops ofmethyl red indicator solution—0.1% in ethyl alcohol. A blankdetermination of all the reagents is conducted simultaneously with thesample and similar in all respects, and correction is made for blankdetermined on the reagents. The moisture content of the ground sample isdetermined according to the procedure described below (A.O.C.S OfficialMethod Ba 2a-38). The nitrogen content of the sample is determinedaccording to the formula: Nitrogen (%)=1400.67×[[(Normality of standardacid)×(Volume of standard acid used for sample (ml))]−[(Volume ofstandard base needed to titrate 1 ml of standard acid minus volume ofstandard base needed to titrate reagent blank carried through method anddistilled into 1 ml standard acid (ml))×(Normality of standardbase)]−[(Volume of standard base used for the sample (ml))×(Normality ofstandard base)]]/(Milligrams of sample). The protein content is 6.25times the nitrogen content of the sample.

The term “soy flour” as used herein means an unrefined soy proteinmaterial that is a particulate soy material containing less than 65% soyprotein content by weight on a moisture free basis which is formed fromdehulled soybeans and which has an average particle size of 150 micronsor less. A soy flour may contain fat inherent in soy or may be defatted.

The term “soy grit” as used herein means an unrefined soy proteinmaterial that is a particulate soy material containing less than 65% soyprotein content by weight on a moisture free basis which is formed fromdehulled soybeans and which has an average particle size of from 150microns to 1000 microns. A soy grit may contain fat inherent in soy ormay be defatted.

The term “soy meal” as used herein means an unrefined soy proteinmaterial that is a particulate soy material containing less than 65% soyprotein content by weight on a moisture free basis which is formed fromdehulled soybeans which does not fall within the definition of a soyflour or a soy grit. The term soy meal is intended to be utilized hereinas a catchall for particulate soy protein containing materials havingless than 65% protein on a moisture free basis which do not fit thedefinition of a soy flour or a soy grit. A soy meal may contain fatinherent in soy or may be defatted.

The term “soy flakes” as used herein means an unrefined soy proteinmaterial that is a flaked soy material containing less than 65% soyprotein content by weight on a moisture free basis formed by flakingdehulled soybeans. Soy flakes may contain fat inherent in soy or may bedefatted.

The term “comminuted whole soybean material” as used herein refers to aparticulate or flaked soy material formed by flaking or grinding wholesoybeans, including the hull and germ of the soybeans. A comminutedwhole soybean material may contain fat inherent in soy or may bedefatted.

The term “weight on a moisture free basis” as used herein refers to theweight of a material after it has been dried to completely remove allmoisture, e.g. the moisture content of the material is 0%. Specifically,the weight on a moisture free basis of a soy material can be obtained byweighing the soy material after the soy material has been placed in a45° C. oven until the soy material reaches a constant weight.

The term “moisture content” as used herein refers to the amount ofmoisture in a material. The moisture content of a soy material can bedetermined by A.O.C.S. (American Oil Chemists Society) Method Ba 2a-38(1997), which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.According to the method, the moisture content of a soy material may bemeasured by passing a 1000 gram sample of the soy material through a 6×6riffle divider, available from Seedboro Equipment Co., Chicago, Ill.,and reducing the sample size to 100 grams. The 100 gram sample is thenimmediately placed in an airtight container and weighed. 5 grams of thesample are weighed onto a tared moisture dish (minimum 30 gauge,approximately 50×20 millimeters, with a tight-fitting slipcover—available from Sargent-Welch Co.). The dish containing the sampleis placed in a forced draft oven and dried at 130±3° C. for 2 hours. Thedish is then removed from the oven, covered immediately, and cooled in adessicator to room temperature. The dish is then weighed. Moisturecontent is calculated according to the formula: Moisture content(%)=100×[(loss in mass (grams)/mass of sample (grams)].

The term “nitrogen solubility index” as used herein is defined as: (%water soluble nitrogen of a protein containing sample/% total nitrogenin protein containing sample)×100. The nitrogen solubility indexprovides a measure of the percent of water soluble protein relative tototal protein in a protein containing material. The nitrogen solubilityindex of a soy material is measured in accordance with standardanalytical methods, specifically A.O.C.S. Method Ba 11-65, which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety. According to theMethod Ba 11-65, 5 grams of a soy material sample ground fine enough sothat at least 95% of the sample will pass through a U.S. grade 100 meshscreen (average particle size of less than about 150 microns) issuspended in 200 milliliters of distilled water, with stirring at 120rpm, at 30° C. for two hours, and then is diluted to 250 milliliterswith additional distilled water. If the soy material is a full-fatmaterial the sample need only be ground fine enough so that at least 80%of the material will pass through a U.S. grade 80 mesh screen(approximately 175 microns), and 90% will pass through a U.S. grade 60mesh screen (approximately 205 microns). Dry ice should be added to thesoy material sample during grinding to prevent denaturation of sample.40 milliliters of the sample extract is decanted and centrifuged for 10minutes at 1500 rpm, and an aliquot of the supernatant is analyzed forKjeldahl protein (PRKR) to determine the percent of water solublenitrogen in the soy material sample according to A.O.C.S OfficialMethods Bc 4-91 (1997), Ba 4d-90, or Aa 5-91, as described above. Aseparate portion of the soy material sample is analyzed for totalprotein by the PRKR method to determine the total nitrogen in thesample. The resulting values of Percent Water Soluble Nitrogen andPercent Total Nitrogen are utilized in the formula above to calculatethe nitrogen solubility index.

The term “salt tolerance index” as used herein is defined as thedispersible nitrogen content (expressed as protein) of a soy material inthe presence of salt. The salt tolerance index measures the solubilityof protein in the presence of salt. The salt tolerance index isdetermined according to the following method. 0.75 grams of sodiumchloride is weighed and added to a 400 milliliter beaker. 150milliliters of water at 30+1° C. is added to the beaker, and the salt isdissolved completely in the water. The salt solution is added to amixing chamber, and 5 grams of a soy material sample is added to thesalt solution in the mixing chamber. The sample and salt solution areblended for 5 minutes at 7000 rpm±200 rpm. The resulting slurry istransferred to a 400 milliliter beaker, and 50 milliliters of water isused to rinse the mixing chamber. The 50 milliliter rinse is added tothe slurry. The beaker of the slurry is placed in 30° C. water bath andis stirred at 120 rpm for a period of 60 minutes. The contents of thebeaker are then quantitatively transferred to a 250 millilitervolumetric flask using deionized water. The slurry is diluted to 250milliliters with deionized water, and the contents of the flask aremixed thoroughly by inverting the flask several times. 45 milliliters ofthe slurry are transferred to a 50 milliliter centrifuge tube and theslurry is centrifuged for 10 minutes at 500×g. The supernatant isfiltered from the centrifuge tube through filter paper into a 100milliliter beaker. Protein content analysis is then performed on thefiltrate and on the original dry soy material sample according toA.O.C.S Official Methods Bc 4-91 (1997), Ba 4d-90, or Aa 5-91 describedabove. The salt tolerance index is calculated according to the followingformula: STI (%)=(100)×(50)×[(Percent Soluble Protein (infiltrate))/(Percent Total Protein (of dry soy material sample))].

The term “viscosity” as used herein refers to the apparent viscosity ofa slurry or a solution as measured with a rotating spindle viscometerutilizing a large annulus, where a particularly preferred rotatingspindle viscometer is a Brookfield viscometer. The apparent viscosity ofa soy material is measured by weighing a sample of the soy material andwater to obtain a known ratio of the soy material to water (preferably 1part soy material to 7 parts water, by weight), combining and mixing thesoy material and water in a blender or mixer to form a homogenous slurryof the soy material and water, and measuring the apparent viscosity ofthe slurry with the rotating spindle viscometer utilizing a largeannulus.

The term “water hydration capacity” as used herein is defined as themaximum amount of water a material can absorb and retain under low speedcentrifugation (2000×g). The water hydration capacity of a soy materialis determined by: 1) weighing a soy material sample; 2) measuring themoisture content of the sample according to A.O.C.S Method Ba 2a-38described above; 3) determining the approximate water hydration capacityof the soy material sample by adding increments of water to the samplein a centrifuge tube until the sample is thoroughly wetted, centrifugingthe wetted sample at 2000×g, decanting excess water, re-weighing thesample, and calculating the approximate water hydration capacity as theweight of the hydrated sample minus the weight of the unhydrated sampledivided by the weight of the unhydrated sample; 4) preparing foursamples of the soy material having the same weight as the unhydrated soymaterial sample determined in step 1 and having volumes of watercalculated to encompass the approximate water hydration capacity value,where the volumes of water in milliliters are determined according tothe formula: (approximate water hydration capacity x weight of theunhydrated sample in step 1)+Y, where Y=−1.5, −0.5, 0.5, and 1.5 for therespective four samples; 5) centrifuging the four samples anddetermining which two of the four samples encompass the water hydrationcapacity−one sample will have a small excess of water, and the otherwill have no excess water; and 6) calculating the water hydrationcapacity according to the formula: Water Hydration Capacity(%)=100×[(Volume of water added to the sample with excess water+Volumeof water added to the sample with no excess water)][(2)×(Solids contentof the soy material)]. The solids content of the soy material used incalculating the water hydration capacity is determined according to theformula: Solids content (%)=(Weight of the soy material sample measuredin step 1)×[1.0−(Moisture content of the soy material measured in step2/100)].

The term “water activity” as used herein is a measure of the unbound,free water in a soy protein containing material available to supportbiological and chemical reactions, particularly bacterial growth andenzymatic reactions. In a soy protein containing material not all water,or moisture content, is available to support biological and chemicalreactions since a portion of the water is bound to the protein and othermolecules such as carbohydrates. The water activity of the soy materialis a measure of how much bacterial growth and enzymatic activity the soymaterial is likely to support. Water activity, as defined herein, ismeasured using a chilled-mirror dewpoint technique. A sample of soymaterial is placed in a cup of limited headspace at room temperature.The cup is inserted into a sample chamber in an analytical instrument,preferably an AquaLab C×2 available from Decagon Devices in WashingtonD.C., which equilibrates the vaporization of moisture from the sampleonto a mirror in the chamber by repeatedly heating and cooling thesample in the sample chamber. The instrument measures the temperatureand water activity each time dew forms on the mirror, until a finalwater activity is determined when the water activity readings are lessthan 0.001 apart.

The term “refrigerated gel strength” as used herein is a measure of thestrength of a gel of a soy material following refrigeration at −5° C. to5° C. for a period of time sufficient for the gel to equilibrate to therefrigeration temperature. Refrigerated gel strength is measured bymixing a sample of soy material and water having a 1:5 soymaterial:water ratio, by weight (including the moisture content of thesoy material in the water weight) for a period of time sufficient topermit the formation of a gel; filling a 3 piece 307×113 millimeteraluminum can with the gel and sealing the can with a lid; refrigeratingthe can for a period of 16 to 24 hours at a temperature of −5° C. to 5°C.; opening the can and separating the refrigerated gel from the can,leaving the gel sitting on the can bottom; measuring the strength of thegel with an instrument which drives a probe into the gel until the gelbreaks and measures the break point of the gel (preferably an InstronUniversal Testing Instrument Model No. 1122 with 36 mm disk probe); andcalculating the gel strength from the recorded break point of the gel.The calculation of the gel strength is made according to the followingformula: Gel Strength (grams)=(454)(Full Scale Load of the instrumentrequired to break the gel)×(recorded break point of the gel (ininstrument chart units out of a possible 100 chart units))/100.

As used herein, the term “gel weight” refers to the amount of gel formedby one part soy material upon being mixed with five parts water, asmeasured by the weight of the resulting gel from five fluid ounces ofmixed soy material/water at a temperature of 15° C. to 25° C. The gelweight of a soy material is measured by mixing one part of soy material,by weight, with five parts of water, by weight, and thoroughly blendingthe soy material in the water. A five fluid ounce cup is completelyfilled with the slurry of soy material and water, and any excess slurryis scraped off of the cup. The cup is tipped over on its side so thatany non-gel material may spill out of the cup. After five minutes, anyexcess slurry material extending outside the lip of the cup is cut off,and the amount of the slurry remaining in the cup is weighed to give thegel weight.

As used herein, the term “trypsin inhibitor activity” refers to theactivity of soy material components in inhibiting trypsin activity asmeasured trypsin inhibition units (TIU). Trypsin inhibitor activity of asoy material may be measured according to A.O.C.S. Official Method Ba12-75 (1997), incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.According to the method, 1 gram of soy material is mixed with 50milliliters of 0.01N aqueous sodium hydroxide solution for a period of 3hours to extract the trypsin inhibiting components from the soymaterial. An aliquot of the extract suspension is diluted until theabsorbance of a 1 milliliter aliquot assay at 410 nm is between 0.4 and0.6 times the absorbance of a 0 milliliter assay (blank). 0, 0.6, 1.0,1.4, and 1.8 milliliter aliquots of the diluted suspension are added toduplicate sets of test tubes, and sufficient water is added to bring thevolume in each test tube to 20 milliliters. 2 milliliters of trypsinsolution is mixed in each tube and incubated for several minutes toallow the trypsin inhibiting factors to react with the added trypsin. A5 milliliter aliquot of benzoyl-D,L-arginine-p-nitroanilide (BAPNA)solution, commercially available from Sigma Chemical Company, St. Louis,Mo., is then added to each tube. Uninhibited trypsin catalyzes thehydrolysis of BAPNA, forming yellow-colored p-nitroaniline. A blank isalso prepared of 2 milliliters of the dilute suspension and 5milliliters of BAPNA. After exactly ten minutes of reaction, thehydrolysis of the diluted suspensions and the blank is halted by adding1 milliliter of acetic acid. 2 milliliters of trypsin solution is thenadded to the blank and mixed therein. The contents of each tube and theblank are filtered through filter paper, and are centrifuged for 5minutes at 10,000 rpm. The yellow supernatant solutions are measuredspectrophotometrically for absorbance at 410 nm. Trypsin inhibitoractivity is evaluated from the difference in degree of BAPNA hydrolysisbetween the blank and the samples, where one TIU is defined as anincrease equal to 0.01 absorbance units at 410 nm after 10 minutes ofreaction per 10 milliliters of final reaction volume. Trypsin inhibitorunits per milliliters of diluted sample suspension may be calculatedaccording to the formula: TIU/ml=100×[(absorbance of theblank)−(absorbance of the sample solution)]/(number of milliliters ofdiluted sample suspension used in the assay).

The term “line” as used herein refers to a group of plants of similarparentage that display little or no genetic variation betweenindividuals for at least one trait. Such lines may be created by one ormore generations of self-pollination and selection, or vegetativepropagation from a single parent including by tissue or cell culturetechniques. “Mutation” refers to a detectable and heritable geneticchange (either spontaneous or induced) not caused by segregation orgenetic recombination. “Mutant” refers to an individual, or lineage ofindividuals, possessing a mutation.

The term “nucleic acid” refers to a large molecule which can besingle-stranded or double-stranded, comprised of monomers (nucleotides)containing a sugar, a phosphate, and either a purine or a pyrimidine. A“nucleic acid fragment” is a fraction of a given nucleic acid molecule.“Complementary” refers to the specific pairing of purine and pyrimidinebases that comprise nucleic acids: adenine pairs with thymine andguanine pairs with cytosine. Thus, the “complement” of a first nucleicacid fragment refers to a second nucleic acid fragment whose sequence ofnucleotides is complementary to the first nucleic acid sequence.

In higher plants, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the genetic materialwhile ribonucleic acid (RNA) is involved in the transfer of informationfrom DNA into proteins. A “genome” is the entire body of geneticmaterial contained in each cell of an organism. The term “nucleotidesequence” refers to the sequence of DNA or RNA polymers, which can besingle- or double-stranded, optionally containing synthetic, non-naturalor altered nucleotide bases capable of incorporation into DNA or RNApolymers.

“Gene” refers to a nucleic acid fragment that expresses a specificprotein, including regulatory sequences preceding (5′ non-coding) andfollowing (3═non-coding) the coding region. “RNA transcript” refers tothe product resulting from RNA polymerase-catalyzed transcription of aDNA sequence. “Antisense RNA” refers to an RNA transcript that iscomplementary to all or part of an RNA transcript that is complementaryto all or part of a primary target transcript and that blocks theexpression of a target gene by interfering with the processing,transport, and/or translation of its primary transcript. Thecomplementarity of an antisense RNA may be with any part of the specificgene transcript, i.e, at the 5′ non-coding sequence, 3′ non-codingsequence, introns, or the coding sequence. “Antisense inhibition” refersto the production of antisense RNA transcripts capable of preventing theexpression of the target protein. “Cosuppression” refers to theexpression of a foreign gene which has substantial homology to anendogenous target gene resulting in the suppression of expression ofboth the foreign and the endogenous gene.

“Promoter” refers to a DNA sequence in a gene, usually upstream (5′) toits coding sequence, which controls the expression of the codingsequence by providing the recognition for RNA polymerase and othertranscription factors. Promoters may also contain DNA sequences that areinvolved in the binding of protein factors which control theeffectiveness of transcription initiation in response to physiologicalor developmental conditions.

“Raffinose saccharides” refers to the family of oligosaccharides withthe general formulaO-β-D-galactopyranosyl-(1-6)_(n)-α-glucopyranosyl-(1-2)-β-D-fructofuranosidewhere n=1 to 4. In soybean seeds, the term refers more specifically tothe members of the family containing one (raffinose) and two (stachyose)galactose residues. Although higher galactose polymers are known (e.g.verbascose and ajugose), the content of these higher polymers in soybeanis below standard methods of detection and therefore do not contributesignificantly to total raffinose saccharide content.

Novel Soy Material Useful As or In a Food Ingredient Composition

The soy material of the functional food ingredient composition of thepresent invention is an unrefined soy protein material. Unlike morerefined soy protein materials, the unrefined soy protein material of thepresent invention contains significant amounts of water-solublecarbohydrates, in addition to soy protein and fiber. The unrefined soyprotein material of the present invention contains at least 5%water-soluble carbohydrates by weight on a moisture-free basis.

Typically the unrefined soy protein material will have a soy proteincontent of less than 65% by weight on a moisture-free basis—less thanthat of refined soy materials such as soy protein concentrates and soyprotein isolates. The unrefined soy protein material may have a soyprotein content of 65% or greater by weight on a moisture-free basisprovided that the unrefined soy protein material is derived fromsoybeans of a soybean line having a phenotype of high storage proteincontent. The unrefined soy protein material of the present invention,however, has similar functionality as a food ingredient as the morehighly processed soy protein concentrates and soy protein isolateswithout a protein content of 65% or greater on a moisture-free basis.

The unrefined soy material preferably contains less than 65% soy proteinby weight on a moisture-free basis, and may contain less than 60% soyprotein or less than 55% soy protein by weight on a moisture-free basis,depending on the starting material used to produce the soy material. Forexample, the unrefined soy protein material may be a comminuted wholesoybean material that contains soy hulls and soy germ that has arelatively low soy protein content. Preferably the unrefined soy proteinmaterial has a protein content of at least 20% soy protein by weight ona moisture-free basis, and more preferably contains at least 25% soyprotein by weight on a moisture-free basis. Particularly preferredunrefined soy protein materials are soy flours, soy grits, soy meal, andsoy flakes that have been treated to provide the desired functionalityfor use as a food ingredient.

The soy material of the functional food ingredient composition of thepresent invention may contain quantities of a refined soy proteinmaterial such as a soy protein isolate or a soy protein concentratemixed with the unrefined soy protein material to raise the concentrationof protein in the soy material above 65% by weight, on a moisture freebasis. It is preferred, however, that the unrefined soy protein materialby utilized as the sole source of soy protein in the soy material of thefunctional food ingredient composition to minimize the commercialproduction costs of the soy material.

The unrefined soy protein material of the functional food ingredient ofthe present invention contains significant amounts of partiallydenatured soy protein, which provides substantial functionality to thesoy material. Soy protein in its native state is a globular proteinhaving a hydrophobic core surrounded by a hydrophilic shell. Native soyprotein is very soluble in water due to its hydrophilic shell. Thepartially denatured soy proteins in the unrefined soy protein materialof the present invention have been partially unfolded and realigned sothat hydrophobic and hydrophilic portions of adjacent proteins mayoverlap. The partially denatured soy proteins, however, have not beendenatured to such an extent that the proteins are rendered insoluble inan aqueous solution. In an aqueous solution, the partially denatured soyproteins of the soy material form large aggregates wherein the exposedhydrophobic portions of the partially denatured proteins are alignedwith each other to reduce exposure of the hydrophobic portions to thesolution. These aggregates promote the formation of gels, increase gelstrength, and increase viscosity of the soy material.

The degree of denaturation of the soy protein in the unrefined soyprotein material is measurable, in part, by the solubility of theprotein in an aqueous solution, which is related to the nitrogensolubility index of the unrefined soy protein material. Soy materialscontaining highly aqueous-soluble soy protein have a nitrogen solubilityindex of greater than 80%, while soy materials containing largequantities of aqueous-insoluble soy protein have a nitrogen solubilityindex less than 25%. The unrefined soy protein material of the foodingredient composition of the present invention has a nitrogensolubility index of from about 30% to about 80%. More preferably, theunrefined soy protein material has a nitrogen solubility index of fromabout 35% to about 75%, and most preferably from about 40% to about 70%.

The soy proteins in the unrefined soy protein material of the functionalfood ingredient of the present invention retain their partial solubilityin an aqueous system containing salt (sodium chloride). This is aparticularly important feature of the unrefined soy protein material ofthe functional food ingredient of the invention, since the unrefined soyprotein material is useful as a food ingredient in food systemscontaining significant amounts of salt. In an aqueous system, soluble orpartially soluble soy protein has a tendency to become insoluble or“salts out” when a significant amount of salt is added to the aqueoussystem. In food systems that contain relatively high amounts of salt,such as emulsified meats or soups, insoluble soy protein caused by“salting out” is highly undesirable.

The unrefined soy protein material of the food ingredient of the presentinvention contains soy protein that is not significantly susceptible to“salting out”. The unrefined soy protein material of the presentinvention has a salt tolerance index, a measure of protein solubilitycomparable to the nitrogen solubility index which is measured in a saltcontaining system, of from 30% to 80%. More preferably, the unrefinedsoy protein material of the food ingredient of the present invention hasa salt tolerance index of from about 35% to about 75%, and mostpreferably from about 40% to about 70%.

The unrefined soy protein material of the food ingredient of the presentinvention is capable of forming a substantial gel in an aqueous solutiondue, in part, to the aggregation of the partially denatured proteins ofthe unrefined soy protein material. Substantial gel formation in anaqueous environment is a desirable quality of the food ingredientcomposition of the present invention since the gelling properties of theunrefined soy protein material contribute to the texture and structureof meat products in which the unrefined soy protein material is used, aswell as provide a matrix for retaining moisture and fats in the meatproducts to enable a cooked meat product containing the unrefined soyprotein material to retain its juices during cooking.

The extent to which the unrefined soy protein material of the foodingredient composition of the present invention forms a gel in anaqueous solution may be quantified by the gel weight of a gel formed bythe unrefined soy protein material in water. Preferably the unrefinedsoy protein material has a gel weight of at least 30 grams at atemperature of from about 15° C. to about 25° C., where the gel isformed by mixing one part of the unrefined soy protein material withfive parts of water to form a five fluid ounce mixture of the unrefinedsoy protein material and water. More preferably, a five fluid ouncemixture of the unrefined soy protein material and water at a 1:5 ratio,by weight, has a gel weight of at least 50 grams at a temperature offrom about 15° C. to about 25° C., and most preferably has a gel weightof at least 100 grams at a temperature of from about 15° C. to about 25°C.

The unrefined soy protein material of the food ingredient of the presentinvention is also capable of forming a gel that has significantrefrigerated gel strength and pasteurized gel strength. The gel strengthof the unrefined soy protein material is important to enable the foodingredient composition to provide a firm structure to a meat emulsion.Meat emulsions used to form meat products such as frankfurters,sausages, and luncheon meats are formed with deboned meats and fatswhich have little inherent structure, and soy protein containingmaterials which form strong gels are used to give the meat emulsion adesirable firm texture.

The unrefined soy protein material of the food ingredient of the presentinvention is capable of forming a gel of sufficient gel strength so theunrefined soy protein material can be utilized in a meat emulsion toprovide a meat emulsion having a firm texture. The unrefined soy proteinmaterial has a refrigerated gel strength of at least 50 grams whencombined with five parts of water per one part of the unrefined soyprotein material. More preferably, the unrefined soy protein materialhas a refrigerated gel strength in a 5:1 water:soy material mixture ofat least 100 grams, and most preferably has a refrigerated gel strengthof at least 200 grams in a 5:1 water:soy material mixture. The unrefinedsoy protein material has a pasteurized gel strength of at least 500grams in a 5:1 water:soy material mixture, and most preferably has apasteurized gel strength of at least 700 grams in such a mixture.

The unrefined soy protein material of the food ingredient composition ofthe present invention is also capable of providing significant viscosityto an aqueous based solution. The relatively high viscosity of theunrefined soy protein material is due in part to the aggregation of thepartially denatured soy protein of the unrefined soy protein material,and also in part to the water hydration capacity of the unrefined soyprotein material. The high viscosity characteristics of the unrefinedsoy protein material in an aqueous medium promote and are associatedwith gel formation, which as described above, is desirable, particularlyfor use in meat applications. The high viscosity of the unrefined soyprotein material in an aqueous system also enables the food ingredientto be utilized as a thickening agent in gravies, yogurts, and soups,especially creamed soups, and to be used in baking applications. Anaqueous solution containing 12.5% of the unrefined soy protein materialof the food ingredient composition by weight (7 parts water: 1 part soymaterial) has a viscosity of at least 500 centipoise at a temperature of15° C. to 25° C. More preferably, an aqueous solution containing 12.5%of the unrefined soy protein material by weight has a viscosity of atleast 1000 centipoise at a temperature of 15° C. to 25° C., and mostpreferably has a viscosity of at least 1500 centipoise at a temperatureof 15° C. to 25° C.

The unrefined soy protein material of the food ingredient composition ofthe present invention also has a substantial water hydration capacity.Water hydration capacity, a direct measure of the ability of a materialto absorb and retain moisture, is desirable in a food ingredientutilized in meat emulsions since a material having a relatively highwater hydration capacity absorbs and retains moisture released by meatmaterials upon cooking, thereby retaining the juices of the cooked meatand providing improved weight retention of the meat emulsion in thecooking process. Incorporation of the unrefined soy protein material ina meat emulsion, therefore, leads to improved taste and tenderness ofthe cooked meat emulsion and an improved cooked weight yield relative tocooked meat emulsions which do not contain a food ingredient with a highwater hydration capacity.

The relatively high water hydration capacity of the unrefined soyprotein material of the food ingredient of the present invention isbelieved to be due to enhanced water hydration capacity of fiber in theunrefined soy protein material relative to fiber in conventionalunrefined soy protein materials, as well as to the partial denaturationof the soy protein in the unrefined soy protein material of the foodingredient of the present invention. The process of forming theunrefined soy protein material, as described hereinafter, exposes thesoy material to relatively high temperatures which expands fiber anddenatures protein in the unrefined soy protein material in the presenceof water. The unrefined soy protein material is dried rapidly, whichcauses the fiber to retain its expanded structure and the protein toretain its denatured structure. Upon addition of the unrefined soyprotein material to an aqueous system, the expanded fiber and thedenatured protein absorb substantial amounts of water, resulting in therelatively high water hydration capacity of the unrefined soy proteinmaterial. Preferably, the unrefined soy protein material has a waterhydration capacity of at least 3.75 times the weight of the unrefinedsoy protein material, and more preferably at least 4.0 times the weightof the unrefined soy protein material.

The unrefined soy protein material of the food ingredient composition ofthe present invention further has a relatively low water activity. Wateractivity indicates the amount of moisture in a material that isavailable to support biological activity, such as microbial growth andenzymatic activity. Microbial growth is undesirable in a food ingredientsince it leads to spoilage, and shortens the shelf-life of the foodingredient. Enzymatic activity is also undesirable in a soy materialfood ingredient, particularly activity by lipoxygenase enzymes andtrypsin inhibitor enzymes. Lipoxygenase enzymes oxidize polyunsaturatedacids, which in turn undergo further reactions to form undesirableflavors in soy materials. Trypsin inhibitors are anti-nutritive factorspresent in soy materials which inhibit the activity of trypsin, and havebeen associated with growth inhibition and hyperactive pancreaticactivity.

The unrefined soy protein material of the functional food ingredient ofthe present invention has a low water activity for supporting suchbiological activity, preferably having a water activity of 0.3 or less,and more preferably having a water activity of 0.2 or less. It isbelieved that the low water activity of the unrefined soy proteinmaterial is due to the low moisture content of the unrefined soy proteinmaterial and to the structural change and realignment of the soyproteins in the unrefined soy protein material in the processing of thesoy material. The soy proteins are structurally changed from a globularform to an unfolded form by heating the proteins in the presence ofwater. As the proteins are unfolded, unbound water is expelled from theproteins, and the proteins realign into aggregates which shareoverlapping hydrophilic and hydrophobic subunits, reducing the wateractivity of the proteins. Rapid drying of the resulting aggregatedpartially denatured proteins prevents the proteins from adopting aconformation more amenable to accepting unbound water so the unrefinedsoy protein material retains its low water activity.

The unrefined soy protein material of the food ingredient composition ofthe present invention also has low trypsin inhibitor activity. As notedabove, soy materials contain trypsin inhibitors, which areanti-nutritive factors that inhibit the activity of trypsin and areassociated with hyperactive pancreatic activity and growth inhibition.Trypsin inhibitors are proteins with enzymatic activity, and aredenatured in the unrefined soy protein material of the present inventionby heating the trypsin inhibitors in the presence of water in the samemanner as the soy protein in the soy material is denatured. Thedenatured trypsin inhibitors are ineffective enzymatically since theinhibitors have been denatured from their enzymatically activeconformation. It is believed that the trypsin inhibitor activity of theunrefined soy protein material of the present invention is lower thanthat of conventional soy flours, soy grits, and soy meals as a result ofdenaturing the trypsin inhibitors in the presence of significant amountsof water rather than merely applying moist heat. The unrefined soyprotein material of the food ingredient composition of the presentinvention preferably has a trypsin inhibitor activity of at most 10trypsin inhibitor units per milligram of soy material.

Preferably, the unrefined soy protein material of the food ingredientcomposition of the present invention also has low lipoxygenase activity.Soybeans contain lipoxygenase enzymes which, as noted above, oxidizepolyunsaturated acids which then undergo further reactions to formcompounds that give soy materials an undesirable flavor. In addition tothe low water activity of the unrefined soy protein material, whichlimits lipoxygenase activity, the lipoxygenase activity in the unrefinedsoy protein material is limited as a result of inactivation oflipoxygenase enzymes in the processing of the soy material. As notedabove, the unrefined soy protein material is processed by heating thesoy material in water to partially denature the soy protein, alsodenaturing lipoxygenase enzymes present in the soy material. Thedenatured lipoxygenase enzymes are inactive, and do not oxidizepolyunsaturated acids to produce undesirable flavor compounds.

Furthermore, the unrefined soy protein material of the functional foodingredient composition of the present invention preferably has a lowmoisture content. A low moisture content is desirable to increase theshelf-life of a food containing the unrefined soy protein material sinceless moisture in the soy material provides less support for microbialgrowth, decreasing the microbial load introduced by the food ingredientinto the food which may cause the food to spoil. The unrefined soyprotein material of the functional food ingredient of the presentinvention preferably has a moisture content of less than 6%, by weight,and more preferably less than 5% by weight.

The unrefined soy protein material of the functional food ingredientcomposition of the present invention also preferably has lowconcentrations of volatile components which give conventional soy floursand grits poor flavor, particularly a beany and/or bitter flavor.Specifically, the unrefined soy protein material of the functional foodingredient of the present invention has low concentrations of n-pentane,diacetyl, pentanal, hexanal, 2-heptanone. 2-pentyl furan, and octanal.Preferably the unrefined soy protein material contains less than 20parts per million (“ppm”) of n-pentane, less than 50 ppm diacetyl, lessthan 50 ppm pentanal, less than 650 ppm hexanal, less than 10 ppm2-heptanone, less than 10 ppm 2-pentyl furan, and less than 10 ppmoctanal.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the unrefined soy proteinmaterial of the food ingredient of the present invention contains lowamounts of raffinose and stachyose oligosaccharides. As noted above,raffinose and stachyose are indigestible oligosaccharides present in soywhich are fermented in the human intestine, causing intestinal gas andresulting intestinal discomfort and flatus. The low raffinose, lowstachyose unrefined soy protein material is used in the food ingredientcomposition of the present invention to reduce or prevent production ofintestinal gas and flatus upon consumption of a food containing the foodingredient relative to foods containing food ingredients which utilizeconventional soy flours, grits, meals, or flakes. In a particularlypreferred embodiment, the low raffinose, low stachyose unrefined soyprotein material is derived from soybeans from a soybean line having aheritable phenotype of low stachyose content.

As used herein, a “low raffinose” soy material is a soy material whichcontains at most 20 μmol raffinose per gram of soy material, morepreferably at most 10 μmol raffinose per gram of soy material, and mostpreferably at most 5 μmol raffinose per gram of soy material. The lowraffinose soy material preferably inherently contains such low levels ofraffinose without processing to remove the raffinose. As used herein a“low stachyose” soy material is a soy material which contains at most 35μmol stachyose per gram of soy material, more preferably at most 10 μmolstachyose per gram of soy material, and most preferably at most 5 μmolstachyose per gram of soy material. The low stachyose soy materialpreferably inherently contains such low levels of stachyose withoutprocessing to remove the stachyose.

More preferably, the low raffinose, low stachyose unrefined soy proteinmaterial also contains a high sucrose content to provide additionaltaste and functionality to the unrefined soy protein material. As usedherein, a “high sucrose” soy material is a soy material which inherentlycontains at least 200 μmol/gram of sucrose, and more preferably containsat least 210 μmol/gram of sucrose.

The unrefined soy protein material of the food ingredient composition ofthe present invention may also contain other selected traits whichimprove the flavor, appearance, or functionality of the soy material.These traits may be present in the unrefined soy protein material aloneor together with the low raffinose, low stachyose, and/or high sucrosetraits, or in combination with other preferred traits. These traitsinclude: low lipoxygenase content (to enhance flavor); modified seedstorage content (for varied nutritional profiles); low phytic acid andphytate content (to enhance nutritional profile); yellow hylum content(to enhance appearance); and enhanced isoflavone content (to providehealth benefits).

The food ingredient composition of the present invention may alsocontain materials to enhance the functionality and flow characteristicsof the unrefined soy protein material. In a preferred embodiment, thefunctional food ingredient contains sodium tripolyphosphate (“STPP”).STPP interacts with amine groups of soy proteins in the unrefined soyprotein material, and promotes solubility of the denatured soy proteinsin an aqueous solution, thereby enhancing the gel and emulsion formingcapability of the unrefined soy protein material. STPP also has achelating effect which may slow or prevent undesirable oxidativereactions. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the food ingredientcomposition contains less than about 3% by weight of STPP. Sodium acidpyrophosphate (“SAPP”), trisodium phosphate, and gums, preferably guargum, may also be included in the food ingredient composition in amountsless than 5%, by weight, of the food ingredient composition to modifythe flow characteristics of the composition.

In a preferred embodiment, therefore, the functional food ingredient ofthe present invention is an unrefined soy protein material having a soyprotein content of less than 65% by weight on a moisture free basis,more preferably less than 60% and more than 20%, which has a nitrogensolubility index of from about 30% to about 80%, more preferably from35% to 75%, and most preferably from 40% to 70%, and which has at leastone of the following characteristics: a viscosity of at least 500centipoise, more preferably at least 1000 centipoise and most preferablyat least 1500 centipoise, at a temperature of from 18° C. to 25° C.; awater hydration capacity of at least 3.75 times the weight of theunrefined soy protein material, more preferably at least 4.0 times theweight of the unrefined soy protein material; a water activity of 0.3 orless, and more preferably 0.2 or less; a salt tolerance index of fromabout 30% to about 80%, more preferably from about 35% to about 75%, andmost preferably from about 40% to about 70%; or a trypsin inhibitoractivity of at most 10 TIU per milligram of the unrefined soy proteinmaterial. Preferably the food ingredient has a refrigerated gel strengthof at least 50 grams when the unrefined soy protein material is combinedwith five parts of water per part of soy material, by weight, and morepreferably has a refrigerated gel strength of at least 100 grams, andmost preferably has a refrigerated gel strength of at least 200 grams.Further, the food ingredient preferably has a gel weight of at least 30grams at a temperature of about 15° C. to about 25° C., more preferablyat least 50 grams, and most preferably at least 100 grams. Morepreferably the unrefined soy protein material of the food ingredient hasa moisture content of less than 6%, by weight, and more preferably atmost 5%, by weight; and contains less than 20 ppm n-pentane, 50 ppmdiacetyl, 650 ppm hexanal, 10 ppm 2-heptanone, 10 ppm 2-pentyl furan,and 10 ppm octanal. In a most preferred embodiment the unrefined soyprotein material is a low raffinose, low stachyose soy material derivedfrom soybeans from a soybean line having a heritable phenotype of lowstachyose content. Preferably the food ingredient also contains at leastone additive selected from sodium tripolyphosphate, sodium acidpyrophosphate, and a gum.

In another preferred embodiment, the functional food ingredient of thepresent invention is an unrefined soy protein material containing lessthan 65% soy protein by weight on a moisture free basis, more preferablyless than 60% and more than 20%, having at least one of the followingcharacteristics: a gel weight of at least 30 grams at a temperature ofabout 15° C. to about 25° C., more preferably at least 50 grams, andmost preferably at least 100 grams; or a refrigerated gel strength of atleast 50 grams when the unrefined soy protein material is combined withfive parts of water per part of soy material, by weight, and morepreferably at least 100 grams, and most preferably at least 200 grams.The unrefined soy protein material of the functional food ingredientalso preferably has at least one of the following characteristics: anitrogen solubility index of from 30% to 80%, more preferably from 35%to 75%, and most preferably from 40% to 70%; a salt tolerance index offrom 30% to 80%, more preferably from 35% to 75%, and most preferablyfrom 40% to 70%; a viscosity of at least 500 centipoise, more preferablyat least 1000 centipoise and most preferably at least 1500 centipoise,at a temperature of from 18° C. to 25° C.; a water hydration capacity ofat least 3.75 times the weight of the soy material, more preferably atleast 4.0 times the weight of the soy material; a water activity of 0.3or less, and more preferably 0.2 or less; or a trypsin inhibitoractivity of at most 10 TIU per milligram of the soy material. Theunrefined soy protein material of the functional food ingredient alsopreferably has a moisture content of less than 6%, by weight, morepreferably less than 5%, by weight; and contains less than 20 ppmn-pentane, 50 ppm diacetyl, 50 ppm pentanal, 650 ppm hexanal, 10 ppm2-heptanone, 10 ppm 2-pentyl furan, and 10 ppm octanal. In a mostpreferred embodiment the unrefined soy protein material is a lowraffinose, low stachyose soy material derived from soybeans from asoybean line having a heritable phenotype of low stachyose content.Preferably the food ingredient also contains at least one additiveselected from sodium tripolyphosphate, sodium acid pyrophosphate, and agum.

Processes for preparing novel soy material The present invention is alsodirected to processes for preparing the novel unrefined plant proteinmaterial utilized in the food ingredient composition of the invention.In a first embodiment, an unrefined soy protein material is hydrated,where at least two parts of water are added per one part of unrefinedsoy protein material to hydrate the soy material. At least a portion ofsoy protein contained in the hydrated unrefined soy protein material isirreversibly partially denatured, and the soy material is dried so thatthe unrefined soy protein material has a nitrogen solubility index offrom about 30% to about 80%.

The soy material utilized as a starting material in the process may beany unrefined soy protein material containing soy protein, fiber, andcarbohydrates, where water soluble carbohydrates comprise at least 5% byweight of the unrefined soy protein material on a dry weight basis.Preferably the unrefined soy protein material contains less than 65% soyprotein on a moisture-free basis, more preferably containing less than60% soy protein, and preferably containing more than 20% soy protein,and most preferably more than 25% soy protein. The unrefined soy proteinmaterial used as the starting material includes, but is not limited to,soy protein containing materials such as comminuted whole soybeans, soyflours, soy grits, soy flakes, and soy meals. Most preferably, theunrefined soy protein material used as a starting material for theprocess is a defatted soy flour, defatted soy grit, defatted soy meal,or defatted soy flake material. Such unrefined soy protein materials maybe produced from whole soybeans, as described below, or are availablecommercially.

Soy flakes for use in the process of the invention may be produced fromwhole soybeans by detrashing the soybeans; cracking the hulls of thedetrashed soybeans; dehulling the soybeans; separating the cotyledonousportion of the dehulled soybeans from the hypocotyls, if desired;flaking the cotyledonous portion of the soybeans; and defatting theresulting soy flakes, if desired. All of the steps in forming the soyflakes may be performed according to conventional processes in the artfor forming soy flakes with conventional equipment.

The soybeans may be detrashed by passing the soybeans through a magneticseparator to remove iron, steel, and other magnetically susceptibleobjects, followed by shaking the soybeans on progressively smallermeshed screens to remove soil residues, pods, stems, weed seeds,undersized beans, and other trash. The detrashed soybeans may be crackedby passing the soybeans through cracking rolls. Cracking rolls arespiral-cut corrugated cylinders which loosen the hull as the soybeanspass through the rolls and crack the soybean material into severalpieces. Preferably the cracked soybeans are conditioned to 10% to 11%moisture at 63 to 74° C. to improve the storage quality retention of thesoybean material. The cracked soybeans may be dehulled by aspiration.The hypocotyls, which are much smaller than the cotyledons of thesoybeans, may be removed by shaking the dehulled soybeans on a screen ofsufficiently small mesh size to remove the hypocotyls and retain thecotyledons of the beans. The hypocotyls need not be removed since theycomprise only about 2%, by weight, of the soybeans while the cotyledonscomprise about 90% of the soybeans by weight, however, it is preferredto remove the hypocotyls since they are associated with the beany tasteof soybeans. The dehulled soybeans, with or without hypocotyls, are thenflaked by passing the soybeans through flaking rolls. The flaking rollsare smooth cylindrical rolls positioned to form flakes of the soybeansas they pass through the rolls having a thickness of from about 0.01inch to to about 0.015 inch.

The flakes may then be defatted, if a defatted soy material is desired,may be partially defatted, or the defatting step may be excluded if afull fat soy material is desired. The soy flakes, and any soy materialsproduced therefrom such as a soy flour, a soy grit, or a soy meal,therefore, may range from fully defatted to full fat soy materials.Preferably the flakes are defatted for use in the functional foodingredient of the present invention to insure good keeping qualities ofthe final product and to permit proper processing of the soy material ofthe composition.

The flakes may be defatted by extracting the flakes with a suitablesolvent to remove the oil from the flakes. Preferably the flakes areextracted with n-hexane or n-heptane in a countercurrent extraction. Thedefatted flakes should contain less than 1.5% fat or oil content byweight, and preferably less than 0.75%. The solvent-extracted defattedflakes are then desolventized to remove any residual solvent usingconventional desolventizing methods, including desolventizing with aflash desolventizer-deodorizer stripper, a vapor desolventizer-vacuumdeodorizer, or desolventizing by down-draft desolventization.Alternatively, the flakes may be defatted by a conventional mechanicalexpeller rather than by solvent extraction.

Preferably, the defatted flakes are then comminuted into a soy flour ora soy grit for use as the starting material of the process. The flakesare comminuted by grinding the flakes to the desired particle size usingconventional milling and grinding equipment such as a hammer mill or anair jet mill. Soy flour has a particle size wherein at least 97%, byweight, of the flour has a particle size of 150 microns or less (iscapable of passing through a No. 100 mesh U.S. Standard Screen). Soygrits, more coarsely ground than soy flour, are ground to an averageparticle size of from 150 microns to 1000 microns.

Although dehulled and degermed soy materials are preferred as thestarting material in the process of the invention, comminuted wholesoybeans including the hull and the hypocotyl (germ) may also be used inthe process if desired. Whole soybeans are detrashed as described above,and then are comminuted by grinding the detrashed soybeans usingconventional milling and grinding equipment such as a hammer mill or anair jet mill. Alternatively, the whole soybeans may be dehulled andground, either with or without the hypocotyl, into a soy flour or a soygrit without first flaking the soybeans.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the soy material used as thestarting material of the process of the present invention is a lowraffinose, low stachyose soy material, where the low raffinose, lowstachyose soy material is derived from soybeans from a soybean linehaving a heritable phenotype of low stachyose content. Most preferablythe low raffinose, low stachyose soybeans also have a high sucrosecontent of at least 200 μmol/gram.

The low stachyose, low raffinose soy material may be any unrefined soyprotein material including comminuted whole soybeans, soy flours, soygrits, soy flakes, and soy meals. Preferably the unrefined soy proteinmaterial contains less than 65% soy protein by weight on a moisture-freebasis. Most preferably, the low raffinose, low stachyose unrefined soyprotein material used as a starting material for the process is a lowraffinose, low stachyose defatted soy flour, soy grit, soy meal, or soyflake material. Such soy materials may be produced from low raffinose,low stachyose whole soybeans from a soybean line having a heritablephenotype of low stachyose content in the same manner as described abovewith respect to soy flours, soy grits, soy meals, and soy flakes fromconventional commodity soybeans.

The low raffinose, low stachyose unrefined soy protein material utilizedin the present invention may be produced from soybeans which are derivedfrom a soybean plant line having a heritable phenotype of low stachyosecontent. Stachyose and raffinose are produced in soybeans from glucoseor sucrose starting materials by a series of enzymatically catalyzedreactions, where myo-inositol and galactinol are key intermediates inthe formation of raffinose and stachyose. In soybeansmyo-inositol-1-phosphate synthase catalyzes the formation ofmyo-inositol from sucrose (or glucose). Myo-inositol is utilized to formgalactinol in conjunction with UDP galactose, where galactinol synthasecatalyzes the reaction. Raffinose is formed from galactinol, catalzyedby the raffinose synthase enzyme, and stachyose is formed from raffinoseand galactinol, catalyzed by the stachyose synthase enzyme.

Stachyose and raffinose accumulation in soybeans can be reduced oreliminated by selection or formation of soybean lines whichunder-express, express defectively, or do not express enzymes requiredfor the formation of stachyose and raffinose. Selection or formation ofsoybean lines which under-express, express defectively, or do notexpress myo-inositol-1-phosphate synthase enzymes or galactinol synthaseenzymes is particularly preferred to increase sucrose content in thesoybean while decreasing or eliminating raffinose and stachyoseconcentrations.

PCT Publication No. W098/45448 (Oct. 15, 1998), incorporated herein byreference, provides processes for producing soybean plants with aheritable phenotype of a seed content of raffinose plus stachyosecombined of less than 14.5 μmol/g and a seed sucrose content of greaterthan 200 μmol/g, where the phenotype is due to a decreased capacity forthe synthesis of myo-inositol-1-phosphate in the seeds of the plant. Inone method, soybean seeds are treated with a mutagenic agent, preferablyNMU (N-nitroso-N-methylurea), the treated soybean seeds are sown andselfed for several generations, and the resulting soybean plants arescreened for the desired phenotype. Soybean plants having the desiredphenotype are homozygous for at least one gene encoding a mutantmyo-inositol-1-phosphate synthase enzyme having decreased capacity forthe synthesis of myo-inositol-1-phosphate which confers a heritablephenotype of low stachyose, low raffinose, and high sucroseconcentrations in its soybeans.

LR33 (Accession Number ATCC97988, Date of Deposit Apr. 17, 1997) is asoybean line having a low raffinose, low stachyose, high sucrosephenotype disclosed in PCT Publication No. W098/45448 which was producedby the mutagenic method described above. Preferably, a soybean linehaving the desired phenotype, such as LR33, is crossed with anagronomically elite soybean line to yield a hybrid, then the hybrid isselfed for at least one generation, and the progeny of the selfed hybridare screened to identify soybean lines homozygous for at least one geneencoding a mutant myo-inositol-1-phosphate synthase having decreasedcapacity for the synthesis of myo-inositol 1-phosphate, where the geneconfers a heritable phenotype of a seed content of raffinose plusstachyose combined of less than 14.5 μmol/g and a seed sucrose contentof greater than 200 μmol/g. The resulting hybrid is preferably anagronomically elite soybean having low raffinose and stachyose contentand high sucrose content.

In a second method provided by PCT Publication No. W098/45448, soybeanplants can be genetically modified to achieve gene silencing ofmyo-inositol 1-phosphate synthase with the resulting associated seedphenotype. The specification of the application provides the nucleotidesequence of the gene responsible for the expression of myo-inositol1-phosphate synthase, which can be utilized to form a chimeric gene withsuitable regulatory sequences for the co-suppression or under-expressionof myo-inositol 1-phosphate synthase. The chimeric gene may be insertedinto the genome of a soybean plant according to procedures set forth inthe application to provide a soybean plant in which the chimeric generesults in a decrease in the expression of a native gene encoding asoybean myo-inositol 1-phosphate synthase. The soybean plant having adecreased expression of myo-inositol 1-phosphate synthase has a lowraffinose, low stachyose, and high sucrose content in its soybean seeds.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,648,210 to Kerr et al., incorporated herein in itsentirety, provides nucleotide sequences of galactinol synthase fromzucchini and soybean and methods of incorporating such nucleotidesequences into soybean plants to produce a transgenic soybean linehaving a low raffinose, low stachyose, and high sucrose heritablephenotype. The provided nucleotide sequences encode soybean seedgalactinol synthase which, as noted above, is a key enzyme in theformation of raffinose and stachyose oligosaccharides from myo-inositoland UDP-galactose. Transfer of the nucleotide sequences encodinggalactinol synthase in soybean into a soybean plant with suitableregulatory sequences that transcribe the antisense mRNA complementary togalactinol synthase mRNA, or its precursor, will result in theinhibition of the expression of the endogenous galactinol synthase gene,and, consequently, in reduced amounts of galactinol synthase, raffinose,and stachyose relative to untransformed soybean plants. Similarly,insertion of a foreign gene having substantial homology to thegalactinol synthase gene into a soybean plant with suitable regulatorysequences may by utilized to inhibit the expression of the endogenousgalactinol synthase gene by cosuppression.

The insertion and expression of foreign genes, such as the galactinolsynthase nucleotide sequences provided in the '210 patent, in plants iswell-established. See De Blaere et al. (1987) Meth. Enzymol.153:277-291. Various methods of inserting the galactinol synthasenucleotide sequences into soybean plants in an antisense conformationare available to those skilled in the art. Such methods include thosebased on the Ti and Ri plasmids of Agrobacterium spp. It is particularlypreferred to use the binary type of these vectors. Ti-derived vectorstransform a wide variety of higher plants, including monocotyledonousand dicotyledonous plants such as soybean, cotton, and rape. [Pacciottiet al. (1985) Bio/Technology 3:241; Byrne et al. (1987) Plant Cell,Tissue and Organ Culture 8:3; Sukhapinda et al. (1987) Plant Mol. Biol.8:209-216; Lorz et al (1985) Mol. Gen. Genet. 199:178; Potrykus (1985)Mol. Gen. Genet. 199:183]. Other transformation methods are available tothose skilled in the art such as the direct uptake of foreign DNAconstructs [see EPO publication 0 295 959 A2], techniques ofelectroporation [see Fromm et al. (1986) Nature (London) 319:791], orhigh velocity ballistic bombardment with metal particles coated with thenucleic acid constructs [see Kline et al. (1987) Nature (London) 327:70,and US 4]. Once transformed, the cells can be regenerated by thoseskilled in the art.

Preferably selected promoters, enhancers, and regulatory sequences canbe combined with the antisense galactinol synthase nucleotide sequenceor a substantially homologous cosuppressing foreign gene to form anucleic acid construct which will most effectively inhibit theexpression of galactinol synthase with a minimum of disruption to thesoybean plant. Particularly preferred promoters are constitutivepromoters and promotors which allow seed-specific expression such aspromotors of genes for α- and β-subunits of soybean β-conglycininstorage protein. A preferred enhancer is a DNA sequence element isolatedfrom the gene for the α-subunit of β-conglycinin, as described in the'210 patent, which can confer 40-fold seed-specific enhancement to aconstituitive promoter.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,710,365 to Kerr et al, incorporated herein in itsentirety, provides further soybean lines having low raffinose and lowstachyose content, which include specific soybean genes, designatedstc1x, which confer a heritable phenotype of low stachyose and lowraffinose content relative to conventional commercially availablesoybeans. The stc1x genes are likely mutant genes which encode defectiveraffinose synthase and stachyose synthase enzymes, thereby inhibitingthe production of raffinose and stachyose in the soybean plants from thestc1x soybean lines. The stc1x soybean lines are obtained by 1)exhaustive screening of existing soybean germplasm collections forsources of genes conferring low raffinose saccharide content; 2)inducing a mutation in the Stc1 gene of a conventional soybean line bychemical mutagenesis; or 3) crossing stc1x soybean lines obtained bymethods 1 or 2 to find soybean lines having modifier genes which furtherreduce the production of raffinose and stachyose in the soybean plant byenhancing the expression of the stc1x genes. Soybean line LR28 wasdeveloped by the first method and soybean line LR484 (Accession No. ATCC75325) was developed by the second method.

The low raffinose, low stachyose, soy material used in the compositionsand processes of the present invention may be stacked to contain otherselected traits which improve the flavor, appearance, or functionalityof the flour or comminuted whole soy bean material. For example, oneskilled in the art may genetically modify a soybean line to producesoybeans having a modified seed storage protein content (for variednutritional profiles); or containing little or no lipoxygenase (toenhance flavor); or containing little or no phytic acid and/or phytates(to enhance nutritional profile); or containing yellow hylum (to enhanceappearance); or having an enhanced isoflavone content relative toconventional commodity soybeans (to provide additional health benefits).

The unrefined soy protein starting material, whether a low raffinose,low stachyose soy material, a soy material derived from soybeans havinga high seed storage protein content, or a soy material derived fromconventional commodity soybeans, is hydrated. When hydrated, theunrefined soy protein material is most preferably in a particulate formsuch as a soy flour or soy grits, prepared as described above.Alternatively, the unrefined soy protein material may be in anon-particulate form when hydrated, for example a soy flake or a wholesoybean material, where the soy material is comminuted into aparticulate form after hydration, for example by blending or mixing thehydrated soy material to break the soy material into smaller pieces.

A sufficient amount of water is added to the unrefined soy proteinmaterial in the hydration step to facilitate the realignment of soyproteins in the soy material upon partial denaturation of the soyproteins by treatment of the hydrated unrefined soy protein materialwith heat. It is believed that the soy proteins realign in the waterupon partial denaturation to form protein aggregates or aggregateprecursors. The aggregates or aggregate precursors are formed as thepartially denatured proteins reduce the interaction of newly exposedhydrophobic subunits of the protein with the water by shifting toenergetically favorable intraprotein and interproteinhydrophobic—hydrophobic and hydrophilic—hydrophilic subunitinteractions. Sufficient hydration of the unrefined soy protein materialis important to ensure that the soy proteins can realign since treatmentof the soy protein in the soy material with dry heat, or with moist heat(e.g. steam) but insufficient water, will denature or partially denaturethe soy protein in the soy material, but will not result in the desiredproduct since the denatured proteins cannot realign absent sufficientwater to facilitate the shifting of the soy proteins to favorable energyconformations. Preferably at least two parts of water are added per onepart of unrefined soy protein material by weight to hydrate the soymaterial. More preferably at least four parts, six parts, or eight partsof water per part of soy material by weight are used to hydrate theunrefined soy protein material, and most preferably at least nine partsof water per part of soy material are utilized to hydrate the unrefinedsoy protein material.

In a preferred embodiment, the water used to hydrate the unrefined soyprotein material has a temperature of from 50° C. to 85° C. The warmwater facilitates hydration of the unrefined soy protein material anddispersion of the soy material in the water.

The hydrated unrefined soy protein material, in the form of an aqueousslurry of soy material containing at most 33% solids by weight, isthoroughly mixed to ensure that the soy material is dispersed in thewater. The slurry is mixed by stirring, agitating, or blending theslurry with any conventional means for stirring, agitating, or blendingcapable of mixing the protein slurry.

If desired, sodium tripolyphosphate (“STPP”) may be added to the aqueousslurry of hydrated unrefined soy protein material prior to exposing thesoy material to conditions effective to partially denature soy proteinin the unrefined soy protein material. STPP interacts with amine groupsin the soy protein, and enhances the solubility of the unrefined soyprotein material in an aqueous solution prior to and after the partialdenaturation of the protein. Treatment of the unrefined soy proteinmaterial with STPP is particularly preferred since the STPP treatedproduct has improved gel forming properties, improved gel strength, andreduced oxidative activity relative to products not treated with STPP.STPP is added to the aqueous slurry in an amount, by weight, not morethan 3% of the weight of the unrefined soy protein material in theslurry, and preferably from 0.5% to 1.5%, by weight, of the weight ofthe unrefined soy protein material in the slurry.

The unrefined soy protein material slurry is then treated toirreversibly partially denature at least a portion of the soy protein inthe hydrated unrefined soy protein material. As noted above, the soyprotein in the unrefined soy protein material is partially denatured tounfold the protein and to induce the proteins to realign to form proteinaggregates or aggregate precursors which enhance the gel and emulsionforming properties of the soy material. The soy protein in the hydratedunrefined soy protein material is partially denatured by treating theaqueous slurry of unrefined soy protein material at an elevatedtemperature for a time sufficient to partially denature at least aportion of the soy protein. Preferably the aqueous slurry of unrefinedsoy protein material is treated at a temperature of from about 75° C. toabout 160° C. for a period of from about 2 seconds to about 2 hours topartially denature the soy protein in the soy material, where thehydrated unrefined soy protein material is heated for a longer timeperiod at lower temperatures to partially denature the soy protein inthe soy material. More preferably the hydrated unrefined soy proteinmaterial is treated at an elevated temperature and under a positivepressure greater than atmospheric pressure to partially denature the soyprotein in the soy material.

The preferred method of irreversibly partially denaturing the soyprotein in the hydrated unrefined soy protein material is treating theaqueous slurry of the soy material at a temperature elevated aboveambient temperatures by injecting pressurized steam into the slurry fora time sufficient to partially denature at least a portion of the soyprotein in the soy material, hereafter referred to as “jet-cooking.” Thefollowing description is a preferred method of jet-cooking the hydratedunrefined soy protein material slurry, however, the invention is notlimited to the described method and includes any obvious modificationswhich may be made by one skilled in the art.

The hydrated unrefined soy protein material is introduced into ajet-cooker feed tank where the soy material is kept in suspension with amixer which agitates the soy material slurry. The slurry is directedfrom the feed tank to a pump which forces the slurry through a reactortube. Steam is injected into the unrefined soy protein material slurryunder pressure as the slurry enters the reactor tube, instantly heatingthe slurry to the desired temperature. The temperature is controlled byadjusting the pressure of the injected steam, and preferably is fromabout 75° C. to about 160° C., more preferably from about 100° C. toabout 155° C. The slurry is treated at the elevated temperature forabout 5 seconds to about 15 seconds, being treated longer at lowertemperatures, with the treatment time being controlled by the flow rateof the slurry through the tube. Preferably the flow rate is about 18.5lbs./minute, and the cook time is about 9 seconds at about 150° C.

After at least a portion of the soy protein in the unrefined soy proteinmaterial is irreversibly partially denatured by exposure to elevatedtemperatures, the hydrated unrefined soy protein material is dried in amanner effective to maintain the structure and alignment changes inducedin the soy protein by the partial denaturation under hydratedconditions. In order to maintain the desired protein structure in theunrefined soy protein material, water is evaporated rapidly from the soymaterial. Preferably the hydrated unrefined soy protein material isdried so that the resulting dried unrefined soy protein material has anitrogen solubility index of from about 30% to about 80%, morepreferably from about 35% to about 75%, and most preferably from about40% to about 70%.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the hydrated unrefined soyprotein material is dried in two steps: a flash vaporization stepfollowed by spray-drying the soy material. The hydratedpartially-denatured unrefined soy protein material is flash vaporized byintroducing the hydrated soy material into a vacuumized chamber having acooler internal temperature than the temperature used to heat treat thesoy material and having a pressure significantly less than atmosphericpressure. Preferably the vacuum chamber has an internal temperature offrom 15° C. to 85° C. and a pressure of from about 25 mm to about 100 mmHg, and more preferably to a pressure of from about 25 mm Hg to about 30mm Hg. Introduction of the hydrated partially-denatured unrefined soyprotein material into the vacuum chamber instantly drops the pressureabout the soy material causing vaporization of a portion of the waterfrom the hydrated soy material.

Most preferably the hydrated unrefined soy protein material slurry isdischarged from the reactor tube of the jet-cooker into the vacuumizedchamber, resulting in an instantaneous large pressure and temperaturedrop which vaporizes a substantial portion of water from the hydratedpartially-denatured unrefined soy material. Preferably the vaccumizedchamber has an elevated temperature up to about 85° C. to prevent thegelation of the unrefined soy protein material upon introduction of thehydrated unrefined soy protein material into the vacuumized chamber.

Applicants believe the flash vaporization step provides an unrefined soyprotein material having low concentrations of volatile compoundsassociated with the beany, bitter flavor of soy such as n-pentane,diacetyl, pentanal, hexanal, 2-heptanone, 2-pentyl furan, and octanal.The heat treatment under pressure followed by the rapid pressure dropand vaporization of water also causes vaporization of substantialamounts of these volatile components, removing the volatile componentsfrom the unrefined soy protein material, and thereby improving the tasteof the soy material.

The flash vaporized unrefined soy protein material slurry may then bespray-dried to produce the dry unrefined soy protein material foodingredient of the present invention. The spray-dry conditions should bemoderate to avoid further denaturing the soy protein in the unrefinedsoy protein material. Preferably the spray-dryer is a co-current flowdryer where hot inlet air and the soy material slurry, atomized by beinginjected into the dryer under pressure through an atomizer, pass throughthe dryer in a co-current flow. The soy protein in the unrefined soyprotein material is not subject to further thermal denaturation sincethe evaporation of water from the soy material cools the material as itdries.

In a preferred embodiment, the slurry of flash vaporized unrefined soyprotein material is injected into the dryer through a nozzle atomizer.Although a nozzle atomizer is preferred, other spray-dry atomizers, suchas a rotary atomizer, may be utilized. The slurry is injected into thedryer under enough pressure to atomize the slurry. Preferably the slurryis atomized under a pressure of about 3000 psig to about 4000 psig, andmost preferably about 3500 psig.

Hot air is injected into the dryer through a hot air inlet located sothe hot air entering the dryer flows co-currently with the atomizedunrefined soy protein material slurry sprayed from the atomizer. The hotair has a temperature of about 285° C. to about 315° C., and preferablyhas a temperature of about 290° C. to about 300° C.

The dried unrefined soy protein material product is collected from thespray dryer. Conventional means and methods may be used to collect thesoy material, including cyclones, bag filters, electrostaticprecipitators, and gravity collection.

In another embodiment of the invention, the hydrated, partiallydenatured unrefined soy protein material slurry is spray-dried directlyafter the step of partially denaturing the soy protein in the hydratedsoy material without the intermediate step of flash vaporization. Theconditions for spray-drying the non-flash vaporized unrefined soyprotein material are the same as described above with respect to theflash vaporized unrefined soy protein material.

In an alternative embodiment, if the solids content of the hydratedpartially denatured unrefined soy protein material is too high foreffective spray-drying, either with or without the step of flashvaporization, the high solids content unrefined soy protein material maybe rapidly dried in accordance with the present invention by grindingand drying the partially denatured soy material simultaneously.Preferably, a high solids content partially denatured soy material isdried in a conventional hammermill or fluid energy mill that uses dryingair and grinds the soy material as it is dried.

If desired, additional materials may be added to the dried unrefined soyprotein material product to improve the performance of the soy materialas a food ingredient. Sodium acid pyrophosphate and/or a gum, preferablyguar gum, may be added to improve the flow characteristics of theunrefined soy protein material. Preferably, if added, up to 5% of sodiumacid pyrophosphate and/or up to 5% of a gum, by weight, are added to theunrefined soy protein material. Other ingredients such as flavorants andcoloring agents may also be added to the unrefined soy protein material.Less preferably, more refined soy protein products such as soy proteinisolates or soy protein concentrates may be combined with the functionalunrefined soy protein material to increase the protein content of theproduct and, in some cases, to increase the functionality of theproduct.

In a second embodiment, a process for forming a functional foodingredient is provided in which an unrefined soy protein material ishydrated; at least a portion of the soy protein in the hydratedunrefined soy protein material is irreversibly partially denatured bysubjecting the hydrated soy material to shear at a temperature of atleast 40° C.; and the partially denatured unrefined soy protein materialis dried so the dried soy material has a nitrogen solubility index offrom about 30% to about 80%. This embodiment of the invention differsfrom the process described above in that less water is required tohydrate the unrefined soy protein material since the shear to which theunrefined soy protein material is subjected facilitates realignment ofthe partially denatured proteins.

The unrefined soy protein material utilized as the starting material forthe process of the second embodiment of the invention may be selectedfrom the soy materials described above as starting materials for theprocess of the first embodiment of the invention. Most preferably, theunrefined soy protein material used as the starting material for theprocess of the second embodiment is a low raffinose, low stachyose, highsucrose soy flour.

The unrefined soy protein material is hydrated by adding water to thesoy material. The amount of water required to hydrate the unrefined soyprotein material is an amount of water sufficient to facilitaterealignment and aggregation of soy proteins in the unrefined soy proteinmaterial and to facilitate blending and subjecting the soy material toshear. The unrefined soy protein material should be hydrated so that thesoy material is present in the water/soy material mixture at a solidslevel of from about 15% to about 80%, by weight. Preferably at least onepart of water is added to four parts of soy material, by weight, tohydrate the unrefined soy protein material. More preferably, at leastone part of water is added to three parts of soy material, by weight,and most preferably at least one part of water is added to two parts ofsoy material, by weight, to hydrate the unrefined soy protein material.In a preferred embodiment, the water used to hydrate the unrefined soyprotein material has a temperature of from 50° C. to 85° C. The warmwater facilitates hydration of the soy material.

If desired, sodium tripolyphosphate may be added to the hydratedunrefined soy protein material prior to the partial denaturation step asdescribed above to enhance the emulsion and gel forming properties ofthe soy material product.

At least a portion of the soy protein in the hydrated unrefined soyprotein material is then irreversibly partially denatured by subjectingthe hydrated unrefined soy protein material to elevated temperatures andto mechanical shear, preferably simultaneously, although the hydratedunrefined soy protein material may be subjected to mechanical shearafter thermally denaturing the soy protein in the soy material. When thehydrated unrefined soy protein material is subjected to thermaldenaturation simultaneous with mechanical shear, the soy protein in thehydrated unrefined soy protein material is irreversibly partiallydenatured by treating the hydrated soy material at a temperature of atleast 40° C. for a period of time sufficient to partially denature aportion of the protein in the unrefined soy protein material, typicallyfrom 5 seconds to 10 minutes. More preferably, under conditions ofsimultaneous thermal denaturation and mechanical shear, the soy proteinin the hydrated unrefined soy protein material is partially denatured bytreating the hydrated unrefined soy protein material at a temperature offrom about 70° C to about 100° C. When mechanical shear is applied tothe hydrated unrefined soy protein material after thermal denaturation,the soy protein in the hydrated unrefined soy protein material may bepartially denatured by treating the hydrated unrefined soy proteinmaterial at a temperature of from 75° C. to 160° C., as described abovewith respect to irreversible partial denaturation of the unrefined soyprotein material without mechanical shear.

The hydrated unrefined soy protein material may be subjected tomechanical shear using conventional equipment for mixing, blending, andshearing aqueous slurries of proteinaceous materials. In a particularlypreferred embodiment, the soy protein in the hydrated unrefined soyprotein material is partially denatured by extruding the hydratedunrefined soy protein material through a single-screw or twin-screwcooker-extruder, for example a Model TX57 Wenger twin-screw,co-rotating, fully intermeshing cooking extruder (available from WengerMfg, Sabetha, Kans.), in which heat and mechanical shear aresimultaneously applied to the hydrated unrefined soy protein material.In another preferred embodiment, the soy protein in the hydratedunrefined soy protein material is partially denatured by mixing the soymaterial in a jacketed sigma blender, where heat and mechanical shearare simultaneously applied to the hydrated unrefined soy proteinmaterial.

After at least a portion of the soy protein in the unrefined soy proteinmaterial is partially denatured by exposure to elevated temperatures andmechanical shear, the hydrated unrefined soy protein material is driedin a manner effective to maintain the structure and alignment changesinduced in the soy protein by the partial denaturation under hydratedconditions with mechanical shear. In order to maintain the desiredprotein structure in the unrefined soy protein material, water isevaporated rapidly from the unrefined soy protein material. Preferablythe hydrated unrefined soy protein material is dried so that theresulting dried soy material has a nitrogen solubility index of fromabout 30% to about 80%, more preferably from about 35% to about 75%, andmost preferably from about 40% to about 70%.

If the partially denatured hydrated unrefined soy protein material has ahigh solids content, e.g. the hydrated partially denatured soy materialcontains less than two parts water per one part soy material, thepartially denatured unrefined soy protein material is rapidly dried bygrinding and drying the unrefined soy protein material simultaneously.Preferably, a high solids content partially denatured unrefined soyprotein material is dried in a conventional hammermill or fluid energymill that uses drying air and grinds the soy material as it is dried. Ifthe partially denatured hydrated unrefined soy protein material does nothave a high solids content, the partially denatured soy material isdried by spray drying the soy material in the manner described abovewith respect to the first process for producing the novel unrefined soyprotein material of the invention.

If desired, additional materials may be added to the dried unrefined soyprotein material product to improve the performance of the unrefined soyprotein material as a food ingredient. Sodium acid pyrophosphate and/ora gum, preferably guar gum, may be added to improve the flowcharacteristics of the unrefined soy protein material. Preferably, ifadded, up to 5% of sodium acid pyrophosphate and/or up to 5% of a gum,by weight, are added to the unrefined soy protein material. Otheringredients such as flavorants and coloring agents may also be added tothe unrefined soy protein material. Less preferably, refined soy proteinmaterials such as soy protein isolates or soy protein concentrates maybe added to the unrefined soy protein material to increase the proteincontent and, in some cases, the functionality of the product. Foodscontaining the functional food ingredient The unrefined plant proteinmaterial functional food ingredient of the present invention is usefulin numerous food applications to provide thickening, emulsification, andstructural properties to foods. The functional food ingredient may beused in meat applications, particularly emulsified meats, soups,gravies, yogurts, dairy products, and breads.

A particularly preferred application in which the food ingredient of thepresent invention is used is in emulsified meats. The functional foodingredient may be used in emulsified meats to provide structure to theemulsified meat, which gives the emulsified meat a firm bite and a meatytexture. The functional food ingredient also decreases cooking loss ofmoisture from the emulsified meat by readily absorbing water, andprevents “fatting out” of the fat in the meat so the cooked meat isjuicier.

The meat material used to form a meat emulsion in combination with thefunctional food ingredient composition of the present invention ispreferably a meat useful for forming sausages, frankfurters, or othermeat products which are formed by filling a casing with a meat material,or can be a meat which is useful in ground meat applications such ashamburgers, meat loaf and minced meat products. Particularly preferredmeat materials used in combination with the functional food ingredientcomposition include mechanically deboned meat from chicken, beef, andpork; pork trimmings; beef trimmings; and pork backfat.

A meat emulsion containing a meat material and the unrefined plantprotein material functional food ingredient composition containsquantities of each which are selected to provide the meat emulsion withdesirable meat-like characteristics, especially a firm texture and afirm bite. Preferably the functional food ingredient composition ispresent in the meat emulsion in an amount of from about 3% to about 30%,by weight, more preferably from about 5% to about 20%, by weight.Preferably the meat material is present in the meat emulsion in anamount of from about 35% to about 70%, by weight, more preferably fromabout 40% to about 60%, by weight. The meat emulsion also containswater, which is preferably present in an amount of from about 25% toabout 55%, by weight, and more preferably from about 30% to about 40%,by weight.

The meat emulsion may also contain other ingredients that providepreservative, flavoring, or coloration qualities to the meat emulsion.For example, the meat emulsion may contain salt, preferably from about1% to about 4% by weight; spices, preferably from about 0.01% to about3% by weight; and preservatives such as nitrates, preferably from about0.01 to about 0.5% by weight.

Preferred meat emulsion formulations are provided in the following twoformulation examples.

FORMULATION 1 Ingredient Percent, by weight Functional food ingredientcomposition unrefined soy protein material 8.2 sodium tripolyphosphate0.4 Pork 90 10.0 Mechanically deboned chicken (18% fat) 22.0 Pork BackFat 18.3 Pork Skin Emulsion 7.0 Water 28.6 Salt 2.0 Spice Mix 0.4Carbohydrates (dextrose, corn syrup solids) 3.0 Preservatives 0.1

FORMULATION 2 Ingredient Percent, by weight Functional food ingredientcomposition unrefined soy protein material 4.6 sodium tripolyphosphate0.5 Beef 90/10 7.5 Pork Trims 70/30 10.0 Pork Back Fat 5/95 16.8 PorkRind EMS 50:50 19.9 Mechanically deboned chicken 15.8 Water 22.8 Salt2.0 Spice 0.02 Colorant 0.03 Preservatives 0.05

A meat emulsion product may be formed with the functional foodingredient composition and a meat material by blending or chopping themeat material, functional food ingredient composition, and watertogether to form a meat emulsion, and filling a casing with the meatemulsion. Selected amounts of meat material, water, and the functionalfood ingredient composition, within the ranges set forth above, areadded together in a mixing or chopping bowl, together with anyadditional desired ingredients such as flavorings, colorants, andpreservatives. The mixture is then blended by stirring, agitating, ormixing the mixture for a period of time sufficient to form a homogenousmeat emulsion and to extract meat protein from the cells in which it iscontained. Alternatively, the ingredients can be added separately aftereach previous ingredient is thoroughly mixed into the mixture, e.g., thewater and meat material can be thoroughly blended, the food ingredientcomposition added and blended into the mixture, and other ingredientsadded and blended into the mixture after the meat material, water, andfood ingredient composition are homogeneously mixed together.

Conventional means for stirring, agitating, or mixing the mixture may beused to effect the blending. Preferred means for blending the meatemulsion include a cutter bowl which chops the materials in the mixturewith a knife, and a mixer/emulsifier which grinds the materials in themixture. A preferred cutter bowl is the Hobart Food Cutter Model No.84142 with 1725 rpm shaft speed.

After the mixture has been blended to form the meat emulsion, the meatemulsion may be used to prepare meat products. The meat emulsion may beused to stuff meat casings to form sausages, frankfurters, and similarproducts. The stuffed casings are preferably held in ice water for aboutthirty minutes, and then are cooked to form the meat products. Thestuffed casings may be cooked by any conventional means for cookingmeats, and preferably are cooked to an internal temperature of fromabout 70° C. to about 90° C. Preferably the stuffed casings are cookedby heating the casings in hot water, preferably at about 80° C., to aninternal temperature of about 70° C.-80° C. Most preferably the stuffedcasings are cooked in a water kettle cooker.

The resulting meat emulsion product containing the functional foodingredient composition has improved firmness, texture, springiness, andchewiness relative to meat emulsions formed with commodity unrefined soyprotein materials such as soy flours, soy grits, soy meal, and soyflakes, and has comparable characteristics to meat emulsions formed withrefined soy protein materials such as soy protein isolates and soyprotein concentrates. The meat emulsion product containing thefunctional food ingredient composition displays substantial compressionstability in meat emulsions containing low and medium grade meats (meatswith little structural functionality), indicating a firm gel formationby the food ingredient composition.

Another particularly preferred application of the functional foodingredient composition is in creamed soups. The functional foodingredient provides significant viscosity to the soups, acts as anemulsifier, and provides a desirable texture to the soups.

The following examples illustrate novel soy material functional foodingredient compositions of the present invention and processes forproducing the novel unrefined soy protein material. These examples areintended to demonstrate the utility and benefit of the novel unrefinedsoy protein material functional food ingredient and should not beinterpreted as limiting the scope of the invention.

EXAMPLE 1

A novel unrefined soy protein material of the functional foodcomposition of the present invention is prepared. Fifty pounds ofcommercially available commodity soy flakes are mixed with two hundredpounds of water at a temperature of about 85° C. in an agitated mixingtank. The water and the soy flakes are mixed in the mixing tank for 20minutes. The resulting soy material slurry is jet-cooked at atemperature of about 154° C for a period of 9 seconds through a reactortube at a flow rate of twelve pounds per minute to partially denatureand realign soy protein in the soy material slurry. The slurry is flashvaporized by ejecting the slurry from the jet-cooker reactor tube into avacuumized chamber having a pressure of about 24 mm Hg and a temperatureof about 54° C. The flash vaporized slurry of soy material is dried byspray-drying the slurry through a nozzle atomizer at a feed pressure of3500 psig, and an exhaust temperature of about 90° C. Seven pounds ofthe novel soy material (hereinafter the “CV soy material”) is collectedfrom the spray dryer.

EXAMPLE 2

A novel unrefined soy protein material of the functional foodcomposition of the present invention is prepared. Fifty pounds of lowraffinose, low stachyose, high sucrose soy flakes are mixed with twohundred pounds of water at a temperature of about 83° C. in an agitatedmixing tank. The water and the soy flakes are mixed in the mixing tankfor 20 minutes. The resulting soy material slurry is jet-cooked at atemperature of about 152° C. for a period of 9 seconds through a reactortube at a flow rate of twelve pounds per minute to partially denatureand realign soy protein in the soy material slurry. The slurry is flashvaporized by ejecting the slurry from the jet-cooker reactor tube into avacuumized chamber having a pressure of about 24 mm Hg and a temperatureof about 50° C. The flash vaporized slurry of soy material is dried byspray-drying the slurry through a nozzle atomizer at a feed pressure of3500 psig, and an exhaust temperature of about 90° C. Twenty six poundsof the novel low raffinose, low stachyose, high sucrose soy material(hereinafter the “HS soy material”) is collected from the spray dryer.

EXAMPLE 3 Protein Content

The CV and HS soy materials produced in Examples 1 and 2 above aremeasured for soy protein content, and are compared to Cargill Flour 20(“Flour 20”), a highly heat treated commodity soy flour available fromCargill, Inc., Cargill Flour 90 (“Flour 90”), a commodity soy flourtreated with a minimum of heat to improve protein solubilitycommercially available from Cargill, Inc., and Arcon S, a soy proteinconcentrate commercially available from Archer Daniels Midland Company,Decatur, Ill. Samples of the CV and HS soy materials (1 gram of each),the Flour 20 and 90 (0.80 grams each), and the Arcon S proteinconcentrate (1 gram) are weighed into respective Kjeldahl flasks alongwith a catalyst mixture (16.7 grams K₂SO₄, 0.6 grams TiO₂, 0.01 gramscopper sulfate, and 0.3 grams pumice) and 30 ml of concentrated H₂SO₄.The contents of the flasks are digested for 45 minutes by placing theflasks in boiling water baths and occasionally rotating the flasks.After digestion, 300 mls of water is added to each sample flask, and theflasks are cooled to room temperature. Sodium hydroxide solution (sp.gr.1.5) is added to each flask to make the digestion solutions stronglyalkaline. Distilled water and standardized 0.5 N hydrochloric acidsolution are added to distillate receiving flasks for each sample (50mls of HCl solution for the CV, HS, and Arcon S samples and 35 mls ofHCl solution for the Flour 20 and 90 samples). The digested solutionsare then distilled until 150 ml of distillate is collected in thereceiving flasks. The contents of each receiving flask are titrated with0.25 N NaOH solution using a methyl red indicator. The Total NitrogenContent of the samples is determined from the amount of base titrantrequired, and the formula provided in the definitions section above forcalculating nitrogen content. The protein content is the Total NitrogenContent×6.25. The results of the protein content determinations areshown in Table 1 below.

TABLE 1 CV Soy HS Soy Material Material Flour 20 Flour 90 Arcon SProtein 54.5 54.5 51.8 52.4 71.5 content (%)

The Flour 20 and Flour 90 contain protein contents typical of soyflours, and the Arcon S contains a level of protein greater than 65%, byweight, indicative of the more extensive processing utilized to form asoy protein concentrate. The CV and HS Soy Materials contain less than65% soy protein by weight, and closely approximate the soy proteincontent found in the flours.

EXAMPLE 4 Nitrogen Solubility Index

The nitrogen solubility indices of the HS and CV soy materials, theFlour 20 and 90 soy flours, and the Arcon S soy protein concentrate aremeasured to determine the relative solubilities of the proteinmaterials. A low nitrogen solubility index, on a scale of 0-100%,indicates low protein solubility and a high nitrogen solubility indexindicates a high protein solubility since protein solubility isproportional to the nitrogen solubility. The nitrogen solubility index(“NSI”) of the HS and CV soy materials, the Flour 20 and Flour 90materials, and the Arcon S protein concentrate is measured from thetotal nitrogen content of the samples determined in Example 3 above, andthe soluble nitrogen of each sample. The soluble nitrogen content ofeach sample is determined by mixing the sample (5 grams of the CV, HS,and Arcon S samples, 3.5 grams of the Flour 20 sample, and 4 grams ofthe Flour 90 sample) with 200 milliliters of distilled water, stirringat 120 rpm for 2 hours at 30° C., and diluting each sample to 250milliliters with further distilled water. 40 milliliters of each sampleis decanted and centrifuged for 10 minutes at 1500 rpm. A 25 ml aliquotof the supernatant of each sample is analyzed for nitrogen content byplacing the aliquots into respective Kjeldahl flasks along with acatalyst mixture (16.7 grams K₂SO₄, 0.6 grams TiO₂, 0.01 grams coppersulfate, and 0.3 grams pumice) and 30 ml of concentrated H₂SO₄. Thecontents of the flasks are digested for 45 minutes by placing the flasksin boiling water baths and occasionally rotating the flasks. Afterdigestion, 300 mls of water is added to each sample flask, and theflasks arc cooled to room temperature. Sodium hydroxide solution (sp.gr.1.5) is added to each flask to make the digestion solutions stronglyalkaline. Distilled water and standardized 0.5 N hydrochloric acidsolution are added to distillate receiving flasks for each sample (25mls of HCl solution for all samples). The digested solutions are thendistilled until 150 ml of distillate is collected in the receivingflasks. The contents of each receiving flask are titrated with 0.25 NNaOH solution using a methyl red indicator. The soluble nitrogen contentof the samples is determined from the amount of base titrant required,and the formula provided in the definitions section above forcalculating nitrogen content. The nitrogen solubility index isdetermined from the total nitrogen content of the sample and the solublenitrogen content of the sample according to the formula: NitrogenSolubility Index=100×[soluble nitrogen content (%)/total nitrogencontent (%)] The results are shown in Table 2 below.

TABLE 2 CV Soy HS Soy Material Material Flour 20 Flour 90 Arcon S NSI(%) 47.5 44.3 44.4 85 61.0

The nitrogen solubility index of the CV and HS soy materials indicatesthat these materials have moderate soy protein solubility in an aqueoussolution as a result of the partial denaturation of the soy protein inthe material. The moderate solubility of the CV and HS soy materialspromotes gel formation by aggregates of the partially denatured andrearranged soy proteins as described above. The NSI of the Flour 20 andthe Arcon S soy protein concentrate indicates that the Flour 20 andArcon S are also moderately soluble in an aqueous solution. The NSI ofthe Flour 90 shows that the protein in Flour 90 is very soluble in waterand likely is substantially in its native globular form having undergonelittle denaturation.

EXAMPLE 5 Salt Tolerance Index

The salt tolerance indicies of the CV and HS soy materials, the Flour20, Flour 90, and Arcon S materials are measured. The salt toleranceindex measures the amount of protein in a sample which is soluble in anaqueous solution containing salt (sodium chloride). The salt toleranceindex is an important measurement for protein containing foodingredients which are to be used in food systems containing salt (e.g.meat emulsions) since the protein in the food ingredient must not bemade insoluble in substantial amounts by the presence of salt, or elsethe food ingredient will cause the food to have a gritty mouthfeel, andmay lose gel or emulsion forming functionalities. The salt toleranceindex is measured on a scale of 0-100%, where a low salt tolerance index(<25%) indicates protein insolubility or low protein solubility in asalt solution, and a high salt tolerance index indicates high proteinsolubility in a salt solution.

Five samples are prepared by mixing 0.75 grams of sodium chloride with150 milliliters of deionized water having a temperature of 30° C. ineach sample until the salt is completely dissolved in the water. 5 gramsof the CV and HS soy material are added to separate samples, 5 grams ofArcon S is added to another sample, 4 grams of Flour 20 is added toanother sample, and 4.3 grams of Flour 90 is added to the final sample.Each sample is mixed in a mixing chamber at 7000 rpm to blend the soyprotein material and the salt solution of the sample. 50 milliliters ofdeionized water is added to each sample and the samples are stirred at120 rpm for 60 minutes at 30° C. The samples are further diluted to atotal volume of 250 ml with deionized water, and the samples are furthermixed. 45 milliliters of each sample are centrifuged for 10 minutes at500×g. Supernatant for each sample is collected by filtering thesupernatant though filter paper. Protein content in the supernatant ofeach sample is determined by analyzing a 25 ml aliquot of thesupernatant of each sample for protein content by placing the aliquotsinto respective Kjeldahl flasks along with a catalyst mixture (16.7grams K₂SO₄, 0.6 grams TiO₂, 0.01 grams copper sulfate, and 0.3 gramspumice) and 30 ml of concentrated H₂SO₄. The contents of the flasks aredigested for 45 minutes by placing the flasks in boiling water baths andoccasionally rotating the flasks. After digestion, 300 mls of water areadded to each sample flask, and the flasks are cooled to roomtemperature. Sodium hydroxide solution (sp.gr. 1.5) is added to eachflask to make the digestion solutions strongly alkaline. Distilled waterand standardized 0.5 N hydrochloric acid solution are added todistillate receiving flasks for each sample (25 mls of HCl solution forall samples). The digested solutions are then distilled until 150 ml ofdistillate is collected in the receiving flasks. The contents of eachreceiving flask are titrated with 0.25 N NaOH solution using, a methylred indicator. The protein content of the supernatant of the samples isdetermined from the amount of base titrant required, and the formulaprovided in the definitions section above for calculating proteincontent. The salt tolerance index is determined according to theformula: Salt Tolerance Index (%)=(100)×(50)×[(Percent Soluble Protein(in supernatant)]/[Percent Total Protein (of dry sample)], where thePercent Total Protein of the dry sample is provided above in Table 1 ofExample 3. The results are shown in Table 3 below.

TABLE 3 CV Soy HS Soy Material Material Flour 20 Flour 90 Arcon S STI(%) 54.7 52.2 25.5 41.7 40.6

The salt tolerance index of the HS and CV soy materials indicates thatthe presence of salt does not substantially affect the solubility of theprotein in the materials. The Arcon S material is slightly affected,however, not to an extent which would cause the protein in the materialto become insoluble or affect the functionality of the material. TheFlour 20 is significantly affected by the presence of salt, andsubstantially loses protein solubility in the presence of salt. TheFlour 90 is also significantly affected by the presence of salt, theprotein changing from substantially soluble in a non-salt aqueous systemto only partially soluble in the presence of salt.

EXAMPLE 6 Gel Weight

The gel weight of the HS and CV materials, the Flour 20 and 90 materialsand the Arcon S is measured. Samples of each material are formed bychopping 200 grams of each sample in 1000 ml of deionized water at 20°C. in a Hobart Food Cutter, Model 84142 shaft speed 1725 rpm, for 4.5minutes. At 4.5 minutes total chop time a pre-weighed 5 fluid ounce cupis filled with the sample slurry, and any excess slurry is scraped offof the top of the cup. The filled cup is tipped on its side on a cupholder located on a level surface so the rim of the cup extends slightlyover the edge of the cup holder. After 5 minutes, any slurry that haspoured out of the cup is sliced off by passing a straight-edge along thetop edge of the cup. Any slurry remaining on the outside of the cup iswiped off, and the amount of slurry remaining in the cup is weighed. Theweight of the gel is the difference between the weight of the cup andthe weight of the cup and the gel. The results are shown in Table 4below.

TABLE 4 CV Soy HS Soy Material Material Flour 20 Flour 90 Arcon S GelWeight 108 g 142 g 4.3 g 11 g 138 g

The CV and HS soy materials and the Arcon S soy protein concentrateformed substantial gels as indicated by the gel weight. The Flour 20 andFlour 90 were ineffective to form a substantial quantity of gel. The gelweight of the CV and HS materials indicate that these materials areuseful for providing structure in a meat emulsion food application,particularly with respect to other soy protein containing materialshaving less than 65% soy protein content such as Flour 20 and Flour 90.

EXAMPLE 7 Refrigerated Gel Strength

The refrigerated gel strength is measured for samples of the CV and HSsoy materials, the Flour 20 and Flour 90 materials, and the Arcon S soyprotein concentrate. 540 grams of each material is mixed with 2160milliliters of water and is mixed for 30 seconds to hydrate the sample.The slurry of each sample is then chopped for 6 minutes in a Hobart FoodCutter Model No. 84142 (1725 rpm shaft speed). 1300 grams of each sampleslurry is removed from the chopper. 28 grams of salt is added to theremaining sample slurries and the slurries are chopped for an additional3 minutes with the salt. Two 307×113 millimeter aluminum cans are filledto capacity with a salt slurry and a no-salt slurry for each sample, andthen are sealed. The salt slurry and no-salt slurry for each sample isthen refrigerated for 16 to 24 hours at −5° C. to 5° C. The gel strengthof each salt slurry and no-salt slurry for each sample is then measuredusing an Instron Universal Testing Instrument Model No. 1122 with a 36mm disk probe using a 1000 lb load cell. The Instron Instrument iscalibrated to a full scale load of 500 lbs with a compression speed at 5inches per minutes and a chart speed of 10 inches per minute. The gelstrength is measured by placing each gel in the Instron Instrument andmeasuring the gel break point upon insertion of a probe into the gel.The gel break point is recorded on the chart by the Instron Instrument.The gel strength is calculated according to the following formula: GelStrength (grams)=(454)×(Full Scale Load of the instrument required tobreak the gel)×[(recorded break point of the gel (in instrument chartunits out of a possible 100 units))/100]. The gel strengths for the saltgel and no-salt gel for each of the samples is shown in Table 5 below.

TABLE 5 CV Soy HS Soy Material Material Flour 20 Flour 90 Arcon S GelStrength No salt (g) 119 222 0 0 216 Salt (g) 148 232 0 0 216

As shown in the results above, the CV and HS soy materials and the ArconS soy protein concentrate have substantial gel strengths underconditions of refrigeration. The Flour 20 and Flour 90 materials,however, are too soft to measure for gel strength, and do not form arefrigerated gel having any appreciable gel strength.

EXAMPLE 8 Viscosity

The viscosity of samples of the CV and HS soy materials, the Flour 20and Flour 90 materials, and the Arcon S soy protein concentrate aremeasured using a Brookfield viscometer with a large annulus. 62.5 gramsof each sample material is weighed and mixed with 437.5 milliliters ofwater. 6 grams of salt is measured separately for each sample to beadded later to the sample slurry to form a 2% salted slurry. Each sampleand water are thoroughly mixed for 5 minutes using a Servodyne mixer setat 1000 rpm. After 5 minutes exactly 200 grams of the slurry of eachsample is removed and placed in respective cups. The 6 grams of salt isadded to the remaining 300 grams of each slurry and is mixed for anadditional 2 minutes. The viscosity of each sample is then measured withthe Brookfield viscometer at 25° C. The results for each sample areshown below in Table 6.

TABLE 6 CV Soy HS Soy Material Material Flour 20 Flour 90 Arcon SViscosity cps No salt 620 1800 12 110 1260 Salt 600 1600 13 58 920

The CV and HS soy materials and the Arcon S soy protein concentrate allhave substantial viscosity at 25° C. in a 12.5% aqueous slurry of thesoy protein containing material, by weight. The high viscosity of the CVand HS soy materials permits their use as thickening agents in foods,particularly in creamed soups. The Flour 20 and Flour 90 soy floursprovide little viscosity under comparable conditions.

EXAMPLE 9 Water Activity

The water activity (Aw) of the HS soy material and the Flour 20 andFlour 90 is measured. A low water activity indicates that there isrelatively little free water in a material which is capable ofsupporting microbial growth which would lead to spoilage of the materialor which is capable of supporting enzymatic activity which could lead topoor flavor.

A sample cup is filled between one-third to one-half full with the HSsoy material, the Flour 20 or the Flour 90 material, and the sample cupis inserted into the sample chamber of an AquaLab CX2 from DecagonDevices. The chamber door is closed, and the water activity is measuredusing a chilled dewpoint technique by the AquaLab CX2. The results forthe HS soy material and the Flour 20 and Flour 90 are shown in Table 7below.

TABLE 7 HS Soy Material Flour 20 Flour 90 Water activity 0.2 0.39 0.37

The HS soy material has a significantly lower A, than the Flour 20 andFlour 90 materials.

EXAMPLE 10 Water Hydration Capacity

The water hydration capacity of the CV and HS materials, the Flour 20and Flour 90, and the Arcon S soy protein concentrate is measured. Thewater hydration capacity is a direct measure of the maximum amount ofwater a material can absorb and retain under low speed centrifugation. Ahigh water hydration capacity is desirable in a soy protein containingfood ingredient. A soy protein containing food ingredient with a highwater hydration capacity is desirable as a component in a meat emulsionto prevent loss of water contained in the meat upon cooking, therebyproviding a more tender mouthfeel to the cooked meat emulsion. A soyprotein containing food ingredient with a high water hydration capacityis desirable as a component in a creamed soup, gravy, yogurt, or dip tothicken the food.

To determine the water hydration capacity of the materials, first thesolids content of the materials is determined. Five grams of each of theCV and HS materials, the Flour 20 and Flour 90, and Arcon S are weighedonto a tared moisture dish. The dish is placed in an oven and dried at130° C. for 2 hours. The dish is then cooled in a dessicator to roomtemperature. The dish is reweighed to determine the weight of themoisture-free sample. The moisture content of the samples is calculatedaccording to the formula: moisture content (%) 100×[(loss in mass(grams)/mass of original sample (grams)]. The solids content of thesamples is calculated from the moisture content according to theformula: solids content (%)=5×[1−(Moisture content/100)].

Four grams of each of the CV and HS materials, the Flour 20 and Flour90, and Arcon S are then measured and obtained as samples. Tare weightsare obtained for centrifuge tubes for each sample, and then the samplesare placed into their respective centrifuge tube. Deionized water isadded to each sample in 2 ml increments until the sample is thoroughlywetted. The samples are then centrifuged at 2000 ×g for 10 minutes.Immediately after centrifugation each sample is examined for excesswater. If a sample contains no excess water, deionized water is againadded in 2 ml increments until the sample is thoroughly wetted, and thesample is centrifuged at 2000×g for 10 minutes. This process is repeateduntil each sample contains an excess of water.

The excess water is then decanted, and the tube and its contents areweighed. The approximate water hydration capacity is calculated for eachsample as the difference of the weight of the hydrated sample and 4grams divided by 4. Four centrifuge tubes are then prepared for eachsample, and 4 grams of each sample are added to the four tubes. A volumeof water is added to the four tubes for each sample, where the volume ofwater for the first tube is equal to the (approximate water hydrationcapacity×4)−1.5; the volume of water in the second tube is 1 ml greaterthan in the first tube, the volume of water in the third tube is 1 mlgreater than in the second tube, and the volume of water in the fourthtube is 1 ml greater than in the third tube. The four tubes of eachsample are then centrifuged at 2000×g for 10 minutes. The centrifugedtubes are examined to determine which of the tubes encompass the waterhydration capacity—where one of the tubes encompassing the waterhydration capacity will contain a slight excess of water and the othertube will have no excess water. The water hydration capacity iscalculated according to the formula: water hydration capacity(%)=100×[(volume of water added to sample with excess water+volume ofwater added to sample with no excess water)/(Solids content ofsample)×2]. The water hydration capacities for the materials are shownin Table 8 below.

TABLE 8 CV Soy HS Soy Material Material Flour 20 Flour 90 Arcon S WHC(%) 3.97 3.82 1.97 2.34 4.79

The water hydration capacity of the CV and HS soy materials issubstantially greater than that of the Flour 20 and Flour 90 materials,and is closer to that of the soy protein concentrate.

EXAMPLE 11 Trypsin Inhibitor Activity

The trypsin inhibitor activity of the CV and HS soy materials, the Flour20 and Flour 90, and Arcon S is measured. The trypsin inhibitor activityrefers to the activity of components in soy material which inhibittrypsin activity. Low trypsin inhibitor activities are desirable in soyfood ingredient compositions, since trypsin inhibition is associatedwith hyperactive pancreatic activity and growth inhibition.

Samples of the CV and HS soy materials, the Flour 20 and Flour 90, andArcon S are measured for trypsin inhibitor activity according to theprocess provided in the definition section above. The results are setforth in Table 9 below.

TABLE 9 CV Soy HS Soy Material Material Flour 20 Flour 90 Arcon S TIU/mg10.6 9.8 15.9 56.7 5.3

As shown in Table 9, the HS and CV soy materials have low trypsininhibitor activity which is comparable to the Arcon S soy proteinconcentrate. The CV and HS soy materials have lower trypsin inhibitoractivites than either soy flour, including the highly heat treated Flour20. Applicants believe that the extremely low trypsin inhibitor activityof the CV and HS materials, even relative to a soy flour that has beensubjected to high heat treatment, is due to heating the CV and HSmaterials in the presence of a substantial amount of water. The waterassists in conducting heat to the trypsin inhibiting protein componentsin the soy material, thereby assisting in the denaturation anddeactivation of these components.

EXAMPLE 12 Concentration of Volatile Compounds

The concentration of volatile compounds associated with the bitter,beany taste of soy materials is measured in the HS material and in theFlour 20 and Flour 90 materials. 5 grams of each material is added to areaction vial and 25 ml of ethyl isobutyrate internal standard (AldrichCat. No. 24,608-5) is added to each vial. The reaction vial for eachsample is then immediately sealed with a septum and mixed by vigorouslyshaking the vial by hand for 15 seconds until the slurry in the vial ishomogenous. Immediately after mixing the reaction vial for each sampleis placed in a forced draft oven at 80° C. for 30 minutes. A cleansyringe for each sample is placed in the oven 27 minutes after thesamples were placed in the oven. The samples and syringes are removedfrom the oven and 5 ml of each sample are individually injected into aPerkin-Elmer Sigma 300 Gas-Liquid Chromatograph with flame ionizationdetector. The concentration of the volatile compounds is measured byinstrumental integration of the peaks determined by the GC/LC measuredagainst a standard ethyl butyrate solution. The results are shown inTable 10 below.

TABLE 10 HS Soy Material (ppm) Flour 20 (ppm) Flour 90 (ppm) n-pentane12.5 46.3 881.6 Diacetyl 42.3 3902.0 22765.0 Pentanal 40.8 1251.035889.0 Hexanal 629.4 516.2 3463.0 2-heptanone 0 19.6 91.0 2-pentylfuran 0 0 22.0 octanal 0 0 32.3

As shown in Table 10, the HS soy material has low concentrations of then-pentane, diacetyl, pentanal, hexanal, 2-heptanone, 2-pentyl furan, andoctanal as a group relative to the Flour 20 and Flour 90 materials.

EXAMPLE 13 Effect of STPP

Selected physical characteristics of the CV and HS materials examined inthe Examples above are compared with the physical characteristics of aCV and HS material which includes sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP). STPPCV and HS soy materials are formed in the same manner as the CV and HSmaterials, as described in Examples 1 and 2, respectively, except that230 grams of STPP is mixed with the initial soy flake and water slurry,and the slurry contains 230 pounds of water instead of 200 pounds ofwater. Experiments to determine the physical characteristics of the STPPCV and HS soy materials are conducted according to the methods set outin the Examples above for the non-STPP CV and HS materials. The physicalcharacteristics of the STPP CV and HS soy materials are compared withthe non-STPP CV and HS soy material physical characteristics in Table 11below.

TABLE 11 CV Soy STPP CV HS Soy STPP HS Material Soy Material MaterialSoy Material Protein Content 54.5 55.0 54.5 52.5 NSI (%) 47.5 77.8 44.376.4 STI (%) 54.7 66.6 52.2 41.3 Gel Weight (g) 108 82.1 142 146.7Viscosity (cps) no salt 620 1020 1800 2800 2% salt 600 1180 1600 2800WHC(%) 3.97 4.84 3.82 4.84 TIU/mg 10.6 13.8 9.8 10.3

The addition of STPP to the CV and HS soy materials clearly increasesthe viscosity and water hydration capacity of the soy materials. STPPalso clearly increases the solubility of protein in the soy material inan aqueous solution, as indicated by the NSI and STI values of the STPPCV and HS soy materials relative to non-STPP CV and HS soy materials.Therefore, STPP can be added to the CV or HS soy material when suchcharacteristics are desirable in a food material in which the soymaterial is to be used as a food ingredient.

EXAMPLE 14 A meat emulsion containing the soy protein functional foodingredient

A meat emulsion is formulated with an STPP HS soy material formulatedaccording to the process set forth in Example 13. The followingingredients are measured out in the correct weight percentages, so thetotal emulsion will weigh 4000 g.

Percent, Ingredient by weight Wt (g) Functional food ingredientcomposition soy protein material 8.2 328.0 sodium tripolyphosphate 0.416.0 Pork 90 10.0 400.0 Mechanically deboned chicken (18% fat) 22.0880.0 Pork Back Fat 18.3 733.2 Pork Skin Emulsion 7.0 280.0 Water 28.61145.0 Salt 2.0 80.0 Spice Mix 0.4 14.4 Carbohydrates (dextrose, cornsyrup solids) 3.0 120.0 Preservatives 0.1 3.4

The Pork 90, mechanically deboned chicken, pork back fat, and pork skinemulsion are tempered at 10° C. overnight. The Pork 90 and Pork Back Fatare then ground to ⅛ inch in a grinder with ⅛ inch plates. The Pork 90,mechanically deboned chicken, ½ of the water and ½ of the functionalfood ingredient are chopped together at low speed for 30 seconds in aStephen Cutter with vacuum and temperature probe. The remainingingredients are added, and a vacuum is pulled while chopping on low for30 seconds, then the ingredients are chopped at high speed until theproduct achieves a temperature of 14° C. 48 mm flat width, 30 cm lengthPVDC casings are then stuffed with the chopped ingredients. The stuffedcasings are held in ice water for at least 30 minutes, and then arecooked in an 80° C. water kettle cooker to an internal temperature of73° C. The cooked meat emulsion is then cooled in ice water.

EXAMPLE 15 Comparison of meat emulsion formed with the functional foodingredient with meat emulsions formed with soy protein concentrates.

The meat emulsion formed in accordance with Example 14 is compared withsoy protein concentrate meat emulsions for firmness of texture. Two meatemulsions are formed with soy protein concentrates, one with Arcon S,and the other with the soy protein concentrate Maicon, commerciallyavailable from Soya Mainz GmbH. The soy protein concentrate meatemulsions are formed in the same manner as described in Example 13,except that the soy protein concentrate is substituted for thefunctional food ingredient in the formula.

8×1 inch samples are taken from each meat emulsion—the functional foodingredient emulsion of the invention—Arcon S, and Maicon, and thesamples are evaluated for first compression hardness on an Instron TwoCycle TPA. First compression hardness is measured by compressing themeat emulsion with a plate until the meat emulsion breaks. The point atwhich the meat emulsion breaks is the first compression hardness. Thefirst compression hardness indicates how firm the meat emulsion is, andthe texture of the meat emulsion. The results for each sample meatemulsion are shown in Table 12 below.

TABLE 12 STPP HS Soy Material Arcon S Maicon 1^(st) compression hardness5676 g 7194 g 4342 g

The STPP HS soy material meat emulsion performs favorably in the firstcompression hardness test with the higher protein content soy proteinconcentrates. The first compression hardness test indicates that theSTPP HS soy material can provide the requisite structure to a meatemulsion despite its relative lack of protein compared to the soyprotein concentrates.

The above description is intended to be descriptive of the presentinvention, but not limiting thereof. Therefore, it is to be understoodthat the embodiments described above are illustrative and are notintended to limit the scope of the invention, which is defined by thefollowing claims as interpreted according to the principles of patentlaw, including the doctrine of equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A meat product comprising a blend of at least onemeat; and an unrefined plant protein material wherein said unrefinedplant protein material forms a gel having a gel weight of at least 30grams at a temperature of from about 15° C. to about 25° C. in a 5 fluidounce mixture of 5 parts water per 1 part of unrefined plant proteinmaterial, by weight.
 2. The meat product of claim 1 wherein saidunrefined plant protein material forms a gel having a gel weight of atleast 50 grams at a temperature of from about 15° C. to about 25° C. ina 5 fluid ounce mixture of 5 parts water per 1 part unrefined plantprotein material, by weight.
 3. The meat product of claim 1 wherein saidunrefined plant protein material forms a gel having a gel weight of atleast 100 grams at a temperature of from about 15° C. to about 25° C. ina 5 fluid ounce mixture of 5 parts water per 1 part unrefined plantprotein material, by weight.
 4. The meat product of claim 1 wherein saidunrefined plant protein material is an unrefined soy protein material.5. The meat product of claim 4 wherein said unrefined soy proteinmaterial is selected from the group consisting of soy flour, soy grits,soy meal, and soy flakes.
 6. The meat product of claim 5 wherein s aidunrefined soy protein material is defatted.
 7. The meat product of claim4 wherein said unrefined soy protein material has a trypsin inhibitoractivity of at most 10 trypsin inhibitor units per milligram ofunrefined soy protein material.
 8. The meat product of claim 4 whereinsaid unrefined soy protein material contains less than 20 ppm n-pentane,50 ppm pentanal, 650 ppm hexanal, 10 ppm 2-heptanone, 10 ppm 2-pentylfuran, and 10 ppm octanal.
 9. The meat product of claim 4 wherein saidunrefined soy protein material contains at most 20 μmol of raffinose pergram of said unrefined soy protein material, and at most 35 μmol ofstachyose per gram of said unrefined soy protein material, wherein saidunrefined soy protein material is derived from soybeans from a soybeanline having a heritable phenotype of low stachyose content.
 10. The meatproduct of claim 1 wherein said unrefined plant protein material has anitrogen solubility index of from 30% to 80%.
 11. The meat product ofclaim 10 wherein said unrefined plant protein material has a salttolerance index of from 30% to 80%.
 12. The meat product of claim 1wherein said unrefined plant protein material has a protein content ofless than 65% plant protein by weight on a moisture-free basis.
 13. Themeat product of claim 12 wherein said unrefined plant protein materialhas a plant protein content of less than 60% plant protein by weight ona moisture-free basis.
 14. The meat product of claim 1 wherein saidunrefined plant protein material has a plant protein content of at least20% plant protein by weight on a moisture-free basis.
 15. The meatproduct of claim 1 wherein said unrefined plant protein material has awater activity of 0.3 or less.
 16. The meat product of claim 1 furthercomprising sodium tripolyphosphate, sodium acid pyrophosphate, guar gum,or a mixture thereof.
 17. The meat product of claim 1 further comprisingwater.
 18. The meat product of claim 17 wherein said meat is present insaid meat product in an amount of from 35% to 70%, by weight; saidunrefined plant protein material is present in said meat product in anamount of from 3% to 30%, by weight, and said water is present in saidmeat product in an amount of from 25% to 55%, by weight.
 19. The meatproduct of claim 1 wherein said meat is selected from the groupconsisting of chicken, beef, pork, pork trimmings, beef trimmings, porkbackfat, and mixtures thereof.
 20. A meat product comprising a blend ofat least one meat; and an unrefined plant protein material wherein saidunrefined plant protein material, when mixed with 5 parts of water perpart of unrefined plant protein material, by weight, forms an unrefinedplant protein material/water mixture having a refrigerated gel strengthof at least 50 grams.
 21. The meat product of claim 20 wherein saidunrefined plant protein material, when mixed with 5 parts of water perpart of unrefined plant protein material, by weight, forms an unrefinedplant protein material/water mixture having a refrigerated gel strengthof at least 100 grams.
 22. The meat product of claim 20 wherein saidunrefined plant protein material, when mixed with 5 parts of water perpart of unrefined plant protein material, by weight, forms an unrefinedplant protein/water mixture having a refrigerated gel strength of atleast 200 grams.
 23. The meat product of claim 20 wherein said unrefinedplant protein material is an unrefined soy protein material.
 24. Themeat product of claim 23 wherein said unrefined soy protein material isselected from the group consisting of soy flour, soy grits, soy meal,and soy flakes.
 25. The meat product of claim 23 wherein said unrefinedsoy protein material is defatted.
 26. The meat product of claim 23wherein said unrefined soy protein material has a trypsin inhibitoractivity of at most 10 trypsin inhibitor units per milligram ofunrefined soy protein material.
 27. The meat product of claim 23 whereinsaid unrefined soy protein material contains less than 20 ppm n-pentane,50 ppm pentanal, 650 ppm hexanal, 10 ppm 2-heptanone, 10 ppm 2-pentylfuran, and 10 ppm octanal.
 28. The meat product of claim 23 wherein saidunrefined soy protein material contains at most 20 μmol of raffinose pergram of said unrefined soy protein material, and at most 35 μmol ofstachyose per gram of said unrefined soy protein material, wherein saidunrefined soy protein material is derived from soybeans from a soybeanline having a heritable phenotype of low stachyose content.
 29. The meatproduct of claim 20 wherein said unrefined plant protein material has anitrogen solubility index of from 30% to 80%.
 30. The meat product ofclaim 29 wherein said unrefined plant protein material has a salttolerance index of from 30% to 80%.
 31. The meat product of claim 20wherein said unrefined plant protein material has a protein content ofless than 65% plant protein by weight on a moisture-free basis.
 32. Themeat product of claim 31 wherein said unrefined plant protein materialhas a plant protein content of less than 60% plant protein by weight ona moisture-free basis.
 33. The meat product of claim 20 wherein saidunrefined plant protein material has a plant protein content of at least20% plant protein by weight on a moisture-free basis.
 34. The meatproduct of claim 20 wherein said unrefined plant protein material has awater activity of 0.3 or less.
 35. The meat product of claim 20 furthercomprising sodium tripolyphosphate, sodium acid pyrophosphate, guar gum,or a mixture thereof.
 36. The meat product of claim 20 furthercomprising water.
 37. The meat product of claim 36 wherein said meat ispresent in said meat product in an amount of from 35% to 70%, by weight;said unrefined plant protein material is present in said meat product inan amount of from 3% to 30%, by weight, and said water is present insaid meat product in an amount of from 25% to 55%, by weight.
 38. Themeat product of claim 20 wherein said meat is selected from the groupconsisting of chicken, beef, pork, pork trimmings, beef trimmings, porkbackfat, and mixtures thereof.
 39. A meat product comprising a blend ofat least one meat; and an unrefined plant protein material, wherein saidunrefined plant protein material has a nitrogen solubility index of from30% to 80% and wherein said unrefined plant protein material forms anaqueous slurry having a viscosity of at least 500 centipoise at atemperature of 15° C. to 25° C. when mixed with 7 parts of water perpart of unrefined plant protein material, by weight.
 40. The meatproduct of claim 39 wherein said unrefined plant protein material formsan aqueous slurry having a viscosity of at least 1000 centipoise at atemperature of 15° C. to 25° C. when mixed with 7 parts of water perpart of unrefined plant protein material, by weight.
 41. The meatproduct of claim 39 wherein said unrefined plant protein material formsan aqueous slurry having a viscosity of at least 1500 centipoise at atemperature of 15° C. to 25° C. when mixed with 7 parts of water perpart of unrefined plant protein material, by weight.
 42. The meatproduct of claim 39 wherein said unrefined plant protein material is anunrefined soy protein material.
 43. The meat product of claim 42 whereinsaid unrefined soy protein material is selected from the groupconsisting of soy flour, soy grits, soy meal, and soy flakes.
 44. Themeat product of claim 42 wherein said unrefined soy protein material isdefatted.
 45. The meat product of claim 42 wherein said unrefined soyprotein material has a trypsin inhibitor activity of at most 10 trypsininhibitor units per milligram of unrefined soy protein material.
 46. Themeat product of claim 42 wherein said unrefined soy protein materialcontains less than 20 ppm n-pentane, 50 ppm pentanal, 650 ppm hexanal,10 ppm 2-heptanone, 10 ppm 2-pentyl furan, and 10 ppm octanal.
 47. Themeat product of claim 42 wherein said unrefined soy protein materialcontains at most 20 μmol of raffinose per gram of said unrefined soyprotein material, and at most 35 μmol of stachyose per gram of saidunrefined soy protein material, wherein said unrefined soy proteinmaterial is derived from soybeans from a soybean line having a heritablephenotype of low stachyose content.
 48. The meat product of claim 39wherein said unrefined plant protein material has a salt tolerance indexof from 30% to 80%.
 49. The meat product of claim 39 wherein saidunrefined plant protein material has a protein content of less than 65%plant protein by weight on a moisture-free basis.
 50. The meat productof claim 49 wherein said unrefined plant protein material has a plantprotein content of less than 60% plant protein by weight on amoisture-free basis.
 51. The meat product of claim 39 wherein saidunrefined plant protein material has a plant protein content of at least20% plant protein by weight on a moisture-free basis.
 52. The meatproduct of claim 39 wherein said unrefined plant protein material has awater activity of 0.3 or less.
 53. The meat product of claim 39 furthercomprising sodium tripolyphosphate, sodium acid pyrophosphate, guar gum,or a mixture thereof.
 54. The meat product of claim 39 furthercomprising water.
 55. The meat product of claim 54 wherein said meat ispresent in said meat product in an amount of from 35% to 70%, by weight;said unrefined plant protein material is present in said meat product inan amount of from 3% to 30%, by weight, and said water is present insaid meat product in an amount of from 25% to 55%, by weight.
 56. Themeat product of claim 39 wherein said meat is selected from the groupconsisting of chicken, beef, pork, pork trimmings, beef trimmings, porkbackfat, and mixtures thereof.
 57. A meat product comprising a blend ofat least one meat; and an unrefined plant protein material wherein saidunrefined plant protein material has a nitrogen solubility index of from30% to 80% and wherein said unrefined plant protein material has a waterhydration capacity of at least 3.75 times the weight of the unrefinedplant protein material.
 58. The meat product of claim 57 wherein saidunrefined plant protein material is an unrefined soy protein material.59. The meat product of claim 58 wherein said unrefined soy proteinmaterial is selected from the group consisting of soy flour, soy grits,soy meal, and soy flakes.
 60. The meat product of claim 58 wherein saidunrefined soy protein material is defatted.
 61. The meat product ofclaim 58 wherein said unrefined soy protein material has a trypsininhibitor activity of at most 10 trypsin inhibitor units per milligramof unrefined soy protein material.
 62. The meat product of claim 58wherein said unrefined soy protein material contains less than 20 ppmn-pentane, 50 ppm pentanal, 650 ppm hexanal, 10 ppm 2-heptanone, 10 ppm2-pentyl furan, and 10 ppm octanal.
 63. The meat product of claim 58wherein said unrefined soy protein material contains at most 20 μmol ofraffinose per gram of said unrefined soy protein material, and at most35 μmol of stachyose per gram of said unrefined soy protein material,wherein said unrefined soy protein material is derived from soybeansfrom a soybean line having a heritable phenotype of low stachyosecontent.
 64. The meat product of claim 57 wherein said unrefined plantprotein material has a salt tolerance index of from 30% to 80%.
 65. Themeat product of claim 57 wherein said unrefined plant protein materialhas a protein content of less than 65% plant protein by weight on amoisture-free basis.
 66. The meat product of claim 65 wherein saidunrefined plant protein material has a plant protein content of lessthan 60% plant protein by weight on a moisture-free basis.
 67. The meatproduct of claim 57 wherein said unrefined plant protein material has aplant protein content of at least 20% plant protein by weight on amoisture-free basis.
 68. The meat product of claim 57 wherein saidunrefined plant protein material has a water activity of 0.3 or less.69. The meat product of claim 57 further comprising sodiumtripolyphosphate, sodium acid pyrophosphate, guar gum, or a mixturethereof.
 70. The meat product of claim 57 further comprising water. 71.The meat product of claim 70 wherein said meat is present in said meatproduct in an amount of from 35% to 70%, by weight; said unrefined plantprotein material is present in said meat product in an amount of from 3%to 30%, by weight, and said water is present in said meat product in anamount of from 25% to 55%, by weight.
 72. The meat product of claim 57wherein said meat is selected from the group consisting of chicken,beef, pork, pork trimmings, beef trimmings, pork backfat, and mixturesthereof.
 73. A meat product comprising a blend of at least one meat; andan unrefined plant protein material having a nitrogen solubility indexof from about 30% to about 80% and a salt tolerance index of from about30% to about 80%.
 74. The meat product of claim 73 wherein saidunrefined plant protein material has a nitrogen solubility index of fromabout 35% to about 75% and a salt tolerance index of from about 35% toabout 75%.
 75. The meat product of claim 73 wherein said unrefined plantprotein material has a nitrogen solubility index of from about 40% toabout 70% and a salt tolerance index of from about 40% to about 70%. 76.The meat product of claim 73 wherein said unrefined plant proteinmaterial is an unrefined soy protein material.
 77. The meat product ofclaim 76 wherein said unrefined soy protein material is selected fromthe group consisting of soy flour, soy grits, soy meal, and soy flakes.78. The meat product of claim 76 wherein said unrefined soy proteinmaterial is defatted.
 79. The meat product of claim 76 wherein saidunrefined soy protein material has a trypsin inhibitor activity of atmost 10 trypsin inhibitor units per milligram of unrefined soy proteinmaterial.
 80. The meat product of claim 76 wherein said unrefined soyprotein material contains less than 20 ppm n-pentane, 50 ppm pentanal,650 ppm hexanal, 10 ppm 2-heptanone, 10 ppm 2-pentyl furan, and 10 ppmoctanal.
 81. The meat product of claim 76 wherein said unrefined soyprotein material contains at most 20 μmol of raffinose per gram of saidunrefined soy protein material, and at most 35 μmol of stachyose pergram of said unrefined soy protein material, wherein said unrefined soyprotein material is derived from soybeans from a soybean line having aheritable phenotype of low stachyose content.
 82. The meat product ofclaim 73 wherein said unrefined plant protein material has a proteincontent of less than 65% plant protein by weight on a moisture-freebasis.
 83. The meat product of claim 82 wherein said unrefined plantprotein material has a plant protein content of less than 60% plantprotein by weight on a moisture-free basis.
 84. The meat product ofclaim 73 wherein said unrefined plant protein material has a plantprotein content of at least 20% plant protein by weight on amoisture-free basis.
 85. The meat product of claim 73 wherein saidunrefined plant protein material has a water activity of 0.3 or less.86. The meat product of claim 73 further comprising sodiumtripolyphosphate, sodium acid pyrophosphate, guar gum, or a mixturethereof.
 87. The meat product of claim 73 further comprising water. 88.The meat product of claim 87 wherein said meat is present in said meatproduct in an amount of from 35% to 70%, by weight; said unrefined plantprotein material is present in said meat product in an amount of from 3%to 30%, by weight, and said water is present in said meat product in anamount of from 25% to 55%, by weight.
 89. The meat product of claim 73wherein said meat is selected from the group consisting of chicken,beef, pork, pork trimmings, beef trimmings, pork backfat, and mixturesthereof.
 90. A meat product comprising a blend of at least one meat; andan unrefined soy protein material selected from the group consisting ofsoy flour, soy grits, soy meal, and soy flakes, said unrefined soyprotein material that (a) forms a gel having a gel weight of at least 30grams at a temperature of from about 15° C. to about 25° C. in a 5 fluidounce mixture of 5 parts water per 1 part unrefined soy proteinmaterial, by weight; (b) forms an unrefined soy protein material/watermixture having a refrigerated gel strength of at least 50 grams whenmixed with 5 parts of water per part of unrefined soy protein material;(c) has a nitrogen solubility index of from 30% to 80%; (d) forms anaqueous slurry having a viscosity of at least 500 centipoise at atemperature of 15° C. to 25° C. when mixed with 7 parts of water perpart of unrefined soy protein material, by weight; (e) has a waterhydration capacity of at least 3.75 times the weight of the unrefinedsoy protein material; and (f) has a salt tolerance index of from 30% to80%.
 91. The meat product of claim 90 wherein said unrefined soy proteinmaterial: (a) has a water activity of 0.3 or less (b) contains less than20 ppm n-pentane, 50 ppm pentanal, 650 ppm hexanal, 10 ppm 2-heptanone,10 ppm 2-pentyl furan, and 10 ppm octanal; (c) has a trypsin inhibitoractivity of at most 10 trypsin inhibitor activity units per milligram ofsaid unrefined soy protein material; and (d) has a moisture content ofless than 6% by weight.
 92. The meat product of claim 91 wherein saidunrefined soy protein material contains at most 20 μmol of raffinose pergram of said unrefined soy protein material, and at most 35 μmol ofstachyose per gram of said unrefined soy protein material, wherein saidunrefined soy protein material is derived from soybeans from a soybeanline having a heritable phenotype of low stachyose content.
 93. The meatproduct of claim 90 wherein said unrefined soy protein material containsat most 20 μmol of raffinose per gram of said unrefined soy proteinmaterial, and at most 35 μmol of stachyose per gram of said unrefinedsoy protein material, wherein said unrefined soy protein material isderived from soybeans from a soybean line having a heritable phenotypeof low stachyose content.
 94. The meat product of claim 90 furthercomprising water.
 95. The meat product of claim 94 wherein said meat ispresent in said meat product in an amount of from 35% to 70%, by weight;said unrefined plant protein material is present in said meat product inan amount of from 3% to 30%, by weight, and said water is present insaid meat product in an amount of from 25% to 55%, by weight.
 96. Themeat product of claim 90 wherein said meat is selected from the groupconsisting of chicken, beef, pork, pork trimmings, beef trimmings, porkbackfat, and mixtures thereof.